Gensokyo and The Ballad of Horrors
by NazoDi
Summary: It has been over a year since the last Cosmic Horrors appeared, but now they have returned and Remilia and her friends find themselves invaded by one Eldritch Abomination after another. Mature Content, Vulgar Language, Violence.
1. Chapter 1 Dream from Beyond

_**Rated M for Mature Content. Vulgar Language. Violence.**_

_Sequel to my first story, Gensokyo and the Harbinger of Madness._

_Mature content won't be a focus of this story, but it will be present in a few chapters (some with violence thrown into the mix), starting with this one. My only warning.  
_

_Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners._

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A cold wind blew across the courtyard of a grand red mansion, home of the Scarlet Devil, signifying the arrival of winter. No snow had yet to fall as the frost on the grass sparkled in the early morning light. The sun rose above the horizon, relieving the land of only a little of the winter chill.

Within the walls of the mansion, the master of the house was retiring to her bedroom. Remilia Scarlet shoved the doors to her bedchambers opened, slamming them shut behind her as she entered. "Worthless gate guard… Worthless maid… Worthless everyone…" She mumbled angry words as she walked, apparently having had a bad night. She pushed her red dress off of her small shoulders as she made her way to her elaborate bed and let it fall to the floor, leaving her in just her white bloomers. She pushed her bloomers down to her feet them stepped out of them. She reached for the black silky one-piece on her bed then threw it over her bare body before jumping into her bed face first into a pillow. After several minutes, she started to toss and turn repeatedly. Finding herself unable to fall asleep, she rolled onto her back then opened her eyes half way.

"Tired yet unable to get to sleep. Perfect…" Remilia mumbled. She let out an agitated groan then closed her eyes once more, only to open them back up after only a couple of minutes, her cheeks now slightly colored with a hint of pink. She pressed her hand over her small breast then let it trail down her small yet slightly shaped body. "Just a little. To get my mind off things and help me fall asleep." She said. She pulled up her one-piece then placed her hand on her nether region. She placed her finger on her clit then slowly rubbed it. Her face flushed as a small flow of pleasure radiated from where she touched. She closed her eyes and began to use her imagination to further arouse herself. She increased the speed she rubbed herself, causing a small sigh to escape her lips. With her free hand, she grabbed one of her small breasts and began to grope it as she continued to rub herself. Occasionally, she would slide her fingers down her increasingly wet lips then back up to her small bulb to begin rubbing again, teasing herself slightly in this way. "Hmm… Haa…" She would increase the speed in which she rubbed her clit with the rise of pleasure she felt and with the increased pleasure brought more moans and sighs of pleasure to leave her lips. "Haa… Mmm…" She licked her lips as bits of drool rolled out from the corner of her mouth. "Ah, yes… There…" She moaned as her body grew warmer. "Ah, yes. A little more… Haa!" She increased the vigor in her rubs, arching her back as she drew closer to her climax. "Haa! Nnnah! Haa!" Her moans grew louder and her breathing harder. "Ah, yes! Ah, yes!"

"Ooooh yes indeed, baby." Came the low pitch voice of a man.

Remilia's eyes shot wide open from the sudden voice. She turned her head to the side to find a young man lying in her bed next to her, looking at her with a cocky grin. Her mouth was left wide open as she stared back in total shock.

The handsome young man laid on his side with his head supported by his arm. His eyes were brown as was his scruffy hair. He wore a tattered black uniform of the renaissance era that was made from a strong and heavy material. A man of Turkic descent, he had tanned skin and appeared slim, but underneath his clothing was a well-toned body. On his back appeared two large holes in his shirt where something had torn through, exposing two large scars on his back.

The redness in Remilia's face became more profound as extreme embarrassment over took her. "Ma-Ma-Ma-Max…" She stuttered in a weak voice.

"Daaaaamn right." Max said as his eyes kept running up and down Remilia's body.

Remilia slowly removed her hand from between her legs. "Wha… What? What are you…?" She tried to speak correctly, but her mind still spun from her earlier activity and from the complete shock caused by the sudden appearance of the person beside her.

"What am I doing you ask? Well I was trying to sleep when suddenly BAM! You started playing with yourself. Kind'a hard for a guy to sleep when there's a girl moaning beside him don't ya think?" Max asked. "Oh, and I totally do not have a massive boner right now." He said, his cocky grin growing bigger.

Angered by his remark, Remilia gritted her teeth then went to slap him across the face, but found herself unable to do so. She felt no weakness in her arms, but they refused to move as she wished. "Huh? What?" She struggled to move her arms. She soon realized she not only lacked the ability to move her arms, but the rest of her body as well. "What the hell is going on?" She asked as she continued to try and move.

"Y'know… if you wanted to get your lips wet you could have just asked me."

"Like hell!" Remilia yelled angrily. "Turn your head! Don't look! You should not even be here in my bed. Why are you here? Answer me!" She shouted. "Whaa!" She let out a sudden yelp after Max placed his fingers on her gut then ran them up to the center of her chest right between her breasts, pushing her one-piece up with them. A cold shiver was sent up her spine. "Don't you touch me! Don't you dare touch me!" She yelled.

"Too late. I've done dared to." Max said with a smug look.

"You're despicable. How could you touch a defenseless girl like this?"

"Defenseless? Ha! Since when did the great Scarlet Devil become defenseless? Or is that just you pretending you don't like it, eh?" Max asked. Before Remilia could answer him, he moved his hand over one of her exposed breasts then pinched the erect nipple.

"Ouch! L-Let go!" Remilia demanded. Max pulled slightly on her nipple before letting it go. "Ow! Why you! You worthless human!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know I am." Max said. Now grinning from ear to ear, he ran his pointer finger down from the center of Remilia's chest down to her groin, stopping directly above her clit.

Remilia's body shuddered from the touch and proximity of a male to her private part. "You wouldn't. Even for you this is too much. You wouldn't dare touch me there when I can't even defend myself." She said, with a hint of panic in her voice.

"You can stop me whenever you like. I'm just a powerless human, while you on the other hand are a mighty vampire. Isn't that right?"

"I can't move. For some reason my body refuses to obey me."

"Pfft. Yeah, sure you can't." Max pressed with his pointer finger down on the small bulb of Remilia's private part.

"Haa!" Remilia let out a yelp as an unusual amount of pleasure shot out from where Max had touched her. Further embarrassed, she quickly closed her mouth to keep herself from making any more sounds.

"Whoa…" Max said with a surprised look. His grin quickly returned to his face. "I didn't know girls were THAT sensitive there. I didn't even do anything. Just poked it."

"You're a bastard. To think I thought you had some decency in you." Remilia said as she turned her head, avoiding the lustful glare Max was giving her.

"Oh come on. You're acting like I'm raping you."

"That's exactly what you're doing." Remilia replied as she gritted her teeth in anger.

"You're not having fun?"

"Of course not!"

Max leaned forward close to Remilia, his lips now close to her ear. "Liar." He whispered.

The warm air hitting up against Remilia's ear caused her to shudder once again. "I-I'm not!" She shouted as she tried to ignore the warm sensation that grew in between her legs.

Max shook his head from side to side, unconvinced and only propelled by Remilia's words. "You are so full of shit." He said then applied pressure to her clit and began to move his finger in a circular motion, sending a wave of pleasure throughout her body.

"Haa! You…You bastard! Stop it! Stop it now! Haa!" Remilia cried out in between gasps of pleasure.

Max's face became flushed as he smiled. "Haha! Jeez, this is awesome. You should have let me do this to you sooner." He said as he watched Remilia shiver and twitch from the mere movement of his fingers.

"You scumbag! You detestable pig! You sorry excuse for a man! You…" Remilia ceased her cursing as her eyes widened when she suddenly felt something begin to enter her. She looked down at Max's hand. "Don't! Pull it out! Pull it out!" She demanded as he slid one of his fingers into her.

"Like a knife through butter." Max said as he pushed his middle finger all the way into Remilia. He immediately started moving his finger in and out of her.

"S-S-Stop! Haa! Nnng! Haa!" Remilia stumbled over her words as moans and yelps forced their way out from her lips. "Ah!" Max removed his finger from her vagina, giving her a moment to relax and catch her breath.

Max held up his wet finger and observed it. "Well god damn. Guess we won't need you to wet my rod now will we? You're all ready to go to town already."

Remilia looked away from Max in disgust. "You really are horrible. Doing such things to me without my consent… I thought you were better than that."

"What made you think that? You hardly knew me." Max asked with a serious expression.

"Hmph. It didn't take me long to decipher your personality after we first met."

Max rolled his eyes. "Oh there you go again. Thinking you had me all figured out. Well, little Miss Vampire, I hate to break the news to you, but I am not the prince in shining armor you are looking for."

"I have no arguments against that."

"Good. Now shut up and enjoy yourself."

"No, damn you!" Remilia shouted, but her shout fell on deaf ears as Max slid two of his fingers into her vagina, causing her to yelp. "Aaah! Enough already!" She yelled in a slightly more pleading tone.

"Heh heh. I totally want to whip it out right now, but I'm having too much fun screwing you like this." Max said as he vigorously fingered Remilia, further forcing erotic noises from her.

"Nnnaahh! Haa! Haa! You… You piece of shit! I wish I had never saved you from those things!" She yelled. Her expression of mixed pleasure and anger suddenly disappeared when she came to a sudden realization. Max's teasing ended as well when he removed his fingers from her insides. She turned her head to see he him wipe his wet fingers on the blankets.

"Alright. Alright. Seems like I made a bit of a big assumption. A wrong one at that. Sorry…" Max said as he avoided eye contact with Remilia. He crossed his arms behind his head then laid his head on a pillow, red faced from embarrassment.

Remilia nodded. "That's right… You are dead. I had nearly forgotten…" She said as a small, sad smile formed on her face.

"Almost forgot? Even though it was you who killed me? You really are an idiot."

"Hmph. You should be happy I remembered you at all and besides, your death was the consequence of freeing you from those… things…"

Max shook his head from side to side. "You stupid fucking vampire…" He got up then leaned over top of Remilia. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her scarlet eyes with a sorrowful expression, despair present in his eyes. "When will you get it? There is no freedom from those things. None. Zero. Zip. Dead or alive. It doesn't matter. The only freedom we have is to stay the fuck away from them. And for those who have fought with them and died…" He shook his head from side to side, dreading to continue his sentence.

Remilia glared at Max with contempt. "You speak like that of a coward."

"No, you fucking moron." Max squeezed Remilia's shoulders harder as he grew angry. "If you had to ever listen to one and only one person then let it be me." His pleading eyes stared into her vampiric eyes. "If you ever find yourself in front of one of those things ever again then do one thing and one thing only. Run. You fucking run."

"Like hell, you damn coward."

"Damn your worthless pride, Remilia!" Max yelled as he roughly shook Remilia once. "There is no winning against those things. No hope. No nothing. You being a long-lived vampire or a magically powerful being or whatever means jack squat to them."

"Did I not convince you that fate can be changed? That I have the power to change fate to my liking? Have you forgotten that when I ripped you free from that Outer God?" Remilia asked with a raised voice.

"I am NOT free! There is NO such thing! That was nothing more than a hollow victory!" Max screamed in Remilia's face. His angered expression faded slightly as he tried to calm down. "Stay away from them, Remilia. I know it's pointless for me to tell you that, but I'm going to say it anyways. Stay away from them. Far from them." He sat up on the bed, giving Remilia her space.

Remilia kept her eyes on Max as he looked away. "You are right. It is pointless for you to say that. If one of those things dares to show itself to me, then I will stand and fight it to the bitter end. Whatever that end may be."

A small chuckle emitted from Max. "Yup. That's you alright." He said. He looked over his shoulder at Remilia then quickly looked away as his face turned red from the sight of her bare body. "Seriously… Sorry about… Well you know…"

"You mean when you molested me?" Remilia said as she glared at Max.

"Since you didn't rip my eyes out the second I saw you I thought you were just playing around and wanted it. I wouldn't have done it if I knew you really couldn't move."

A surprised expression appeared on Remilia's face, but it faded when she smirked. "Well I guess I shouldn't have really cared. This is a dream after all." She said.

"Hmm…" Max replied with a nod.

Remilia and Max fell into silence, which was broken by Remilia after a few moments. "Well? Are you just going to sit there staring at the wall like a nitwit or are you going to finish what you started?" She asked.

Max turned to face Remilia with a confused look on his face. "Finish what?" He asked. His face turned red from the erotic look she was giving him. Her face was flushed and she breathed heavily as she squirmed a little. He instantly became captivated by her seductive scarlet eyes.

"You are so cruel. You nearly make me orgasm then you stop. Not only that, you think to leave me here after making me so very hot. I can't even move to satisfy myself. You bastard…" Remilia said in an oddly submissive tone of voice, causing Max's jaw to drop. "Well come on, you. Do whatever you want with my precious body. Please do whatever you like…" She said with glowing, pleading eyes.

Captured in her seductive gaze, Max found himself slowly crawling over to Remilia then over top of her as her eyes pulled him to her. His heart pounded as his face was pulled closer to hers. He then smirked. "Why are you using your hocus pocus on me for, eh? You know I wasn't about to say no."

Remilia giggled. "Because it's fun."

"You just want to make it seem like you have some sort of control right now, don't ya?" Max asked. His smirk then turned into a grin.

Remilia's expression turned to surprise when Max suddenly pushed her legs apart. She then felt not one or two but three of Max's fingers make their way into her insides. "Ahhh!" She arched her back from the sudden pleasurable pressure.

"Alrighty then. If I get to do whatever I want then lets continue with a little more of this. Heheheh!"

"Ah! Nn! Haa! D-Do whatever you want! I don't care!" Remilia cried out as pleasure began to cloud her mind. "Be honored. I don't dream about this kind of thing with just anyone."

"Oh, shut your face." Max demanded then pressed his lips against Remilia's, causing her moans of pleasure to become muffled.

Max worked his fingers in and out of Remilia's wet vagina as he kissed her. They swirled their tongues around one another's in lust filled combat. Before long, Max ended up cutting his tongue on one of Remilia's fangs, spilling blood into her mouth.

Max pulled away from Remilia's lips. "Ow! Fuck that hurt!" He exclaimed.

"Ahh… Your blood tastes so good. It's like an aphrodisiac to me." Remilia said in a pleased tone.

"Woopdy do." Max said then pressed his lips against Remilia's again.

Remilia wasted no time in licking up the blood inside Max's mouth while she let out erotic moans that rang lustfully in his ears. He then pulled his lips away from hers then sat up, his face flushed as he caught his breath.

"Ah, man. Hell with it. I can't hold back anymore." Max said as he pulled his fingers out of Remilia then began to unbuckle his pants. "Damn thing…" He mumbled angrily as he struggled with the belt.

Drowned in lust, Remilia panted heavily as she watched Max fight with his belt buckle and noticing the sizable bulge in the groin of the pants. "Ah yes, hurry. I don't care what you do or how you do it just hurry." She pleaded. Once Max got his belt undone and thrown to the side, she rested her head back and closed her eyes. "Yes, this is fine… You are dead and this… this is all just a dream…" She impatiently waited for Max to connect with her, their heavy breathing being the only noise in the room. She tried not to make her shuddering obvious when she felt a warm breath on her lips.

"Well, Remilia… You're right about one thing." Remilia could hear Max whisper. "I'm certainly dead, but this dream is more like a…" She tensed up as she felt a pair of lips press against hers for a moment before backing off.

"Nightmare." The sound of a young girl's voice echoed painfully in Remilia's ears. Her eyes shot wide open and she became face to face with that of a young girl leaning over her, staring intently into her eyes. The strange girl's stare caused terror to envelope her. "Hello! Hello!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully.

The strange girl was no bigger than Remilia. Her long, straight hair was black, but it appeared to change to other dark colors, both earthy and otherworldly. Her eyes had irises that lacked pupils. The colors of her eyes matched her hair color, and changed with it. She had on a silky, black one-piece along with silky, black gloves and black dress shoes.

Sweat ran down Remilia's pale face. "You… You're that alien being…" She said with a fear filled voice.

"That's riiiiiight! I'm Nyarlathotep!" The girl sang cheerfully. She held a smile, but her expression became dark. "So… having dream sex with my lover now are ya?"

Anger mixed in with Remilia's terrified expression from the girl's words. "He was far from being your lover, you alien freak!" She shouted, only to have her neck grabbed and squeezed by the alien, closing her airway.

"Shh shh shhhh." Nyarlathotep hushed Remilia as she pressed a pointer finger up against her lips. She held on firmly to Remilia's neck and lifted her up close to her face. With her vaguely human tongue, she licked the side of her face. Where her tongue touched, Remilia's skin decayed, causing her to moan in pain. After getting her taste of the vampire, she peered into her eyes. "I've been around longer than you can possibly imagine and have come across some of the most annoying creatures you could have ever meet, but you… you take the cake." She said with a smile, but with aggravation in her voice. "I should be swimming in the insanity of this little planet right now, but you had to get in my way, fiddling with fate as if there wouldn't be any consequences." She squeezed Remilia's neck harder, her sharp nails digging into her skin and drawing blood. "The power to manipulate fate? Oh, Please." She shrugged her shoulders then laughed, but her laugh was not that of a young girl's, but a sinister alien creature. "You can try and change fate all you want, but in the end it will revert back on track to its one true end. Me." She pushed Remilia into the bed then kissed her on the lips, sucking some of the life energy out of her in the process. Remilia gasped as she struggled to breathe after she removed her lips from her's. "I normally don't let little inconveniences like you bother me, but I cannot help but be incredibly annoyed with you. If it wasn't for you, my little Maxi would have torn your pathetic world apart with the Unspeakable One's power, lost in his own sweet insanity." The Crawling Chaos shivered as a sickening pleasure rippled up her body. "Oh my… Just thinking about it makes me so wet. Oh yes… so very wet…" The thing said as she placed her hands on her chest then ran them down her body.

Remilia glared at the evil being with disgust and hate. "You perverse creature… Your horrid existence was sealed away by the very person you thought to use for your own sick goals. Pity he wasn't able to just destroy you, but then again I wouldn't be able to spit and laugh in your face, like this." She spat in the Outer God's face then let out an arrogant laugh.

Nyarlathotep formed a dark grin, never minding the saliva on her cheek. "Being sealed away is only a minor inconvenience. I could fail repeatedly, but in the end I would still be victorious. It does not matter how things play out, it will all fall into place the way I intend it, but…" She leaned close to Remilia's face, her alien breath burning her skin. "I enjoy having things go the way I plan them to, so I get a little annoyed when a little bitch like you gets in the way of those plans."

"Well this little bitch is going to always be in your way, no matter how many times you appear in my world. I fear no god, neither god of the earth or beyond." Remilia declared defiantly.

"Oh, by all means, please do." Nyarlathotep said then smiled sadistically. She grabbed Remilia, threw her onto her stomach then pushed her face into the bed. She leaned close to Remilia's ear. "Your resistance only makes me more hot."

Nyarlathotep's back bulged before a mass of blood covered tentacles burst out from it. The tentacles thrashed around wildly, splashing blood everywhere. She grabbed Remilia's waste and lifted her behind up with one hand while pushing her face into the bed with the other. Terrified, Remilia desperately tried to get her body to move, but to no avail. One of the tentacles slithered its way between Nyarlathotep's legs. The tip of it touched Remilia's pussy then slid up and down her slit as if tasting it.

"Let's skip the foreplay and just get to it, 'kay?" Nyarlathotep asked with a sickening smile.

Horror and pain enveloped Remilia's face when she felt the tentacle push its way inside her. "Aaaaaahhhhhh!" She screamed as her vagina began to rip and tear. Blood poured from her as the tentacle continued its way deeper inside her.

Nyarlathotep let out a sigh of satisfaction. "Ahh… Like a glove."

"Pull it out! Pull it out!" Remilia screamed as tears of agony ran down her face.

"No way! No way!" The Crawling Chaos exclaimed joyfully. Her joyful expression quickly changed back to that of sadistic pleasure. She then began to move the tentacle in and out of Remilia rapidly and without mercy.

Remilia let out painful shrieks with every thrust and pull of Nyarlathotep's alien appendage. The tentacle pounded against her womb, causing a burning pain in her gut. The Outer God moaned with sick pleasure not from the physical stimulation but from the cruel torment she was inflicting upon the vampire. Remilia tried with all of her might to move, but the only thing she could do was scream. After only a few minutes into the torture, she began to feel things crawling inside her, further causing her pain and suffering.

"You made a grave mistake when you stood in my path, little vampire." Nyarlathotep said as drool ran down from the corner of her mouth. "You can delay the inevitable all you want, but sooner or later humanity will be extinguished, along with all the other beings that inhabit the Earth." She said as she increased the strength in which she thrusted her tentacle into Remilia. "Your insignificant world has one purpose and one purpose only… To be devoured by the monstrosities that lurk across the cosmos. The nightmares that exist beyond time and space. The unfathomable horrors that wait behind the veil of reality… and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it." She said then began to laugh hysterically.

The Outer God's unholy laugh began to cause space around them to warp. The ceiling melted from above as the walls stretched and bended. The light retreated as the darkness slowly consumed the room.

Remilia's mind began to crack as the alien being continued to assault her with her tentacle and hideous laugh. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but her screams soon became stifled when her lungs began to fill up with something. She suddenly became silent as things from within her started crawling their way up her throat. Nyarlathotep thrusted her tentacle into her once particularly hard, forcing her mouth wide open, but instead of a scream, a swarm of insects began crawling their way out of her mouth.

The alien god's sadistic laugh ceased when she licked her lips. "Haa… I think I went a little too fast. I'm already about to cum. I hope you're ready." She giggled. She paid no mind when Remilia looked back at her, shaking her head 'no' with pleading eyes as insects continued to pour from her mouth. "I hope your little cunt can hold all of the love I'm about to give you." Remilia shook her head harder, which only caused the alien's grin to grow more dark and horrifying. "Ah! Here, take it all in. You may consider this… as a little reward for your arrogant, yet admirable, meddling." She said.

Nyarlathotep's tentacle began to twitch as it injected a vile fluid into Remilia's womb. An agonizing scream followed the last insect that left her mouth. After the alien finished filling her womb, she pulled the tentacle out, letting blood and a sizzling green fluid flow out from her. Remilia fell flat onto the bed, in severe pain and choking as she tried to breathe with tears flowing down her face. Thinking the horrible nightmare was over, her hopes were crushed when she suddenly felt her stomach growing. She rolled onto her back then noticed that her stomach was swelling.

Nyarlathotep giggled. "Oh, my! It looks like my little gift is already growing! I'm so happy!" She cheerfully exclaimed.

Horror covered Remilia's face. She shook her head from side to side in denial as she watched her stomach grow to an unusual size. She began to scream in pain as her skin started to rip. In only a few short moments, her stomach burst open, spilling blood all over her and the bed. She tried not to look, but the movement of something squirming where her stomach was forced her to. What life was left in her face vanished from the abomination that she saw.

"Awww, it's so cute!" Nyarlathotep squealed. She reached down then scooped up what appeared to be a human baby, except for two horrific differences, into her arms.

The thing that withered in Nyarlathotep's arms had the body of a human infant, but its head was replaced with the head of a hideous looking spider and its arms replaced with slimy tentacles. The gruesome thing stared into Remilia's eyes with its pitch black eyes. Her mind shattered from the site of the blood covered thing and from its deathly stare.

"Awww, you're filled with so much happiness right now you're speechless. That's even cuter." Nyarlathotep said with a joyful smile. She looked down at the monstrosity in her arms. "Well go on. Give your mother a kiss!"

The mutant creature's head ripped itself off from atop of its shoulders with its blood covered spine still attached to it and the body. Remilia watched lifelessly as the thing's head suddenly grew larger. With a hideous shriek, the thing lunged towards Remilia. Its mouth covered her entire head before snapping it shut and crushing her head in a splattering of bone and gore then wasting no time in devouring the rest of her in a vicious and bloody manner.

* * *

Remilia suddenly sprang awake from her bed, her face more pale than the whitest of ghosts. Her entire body was covered in sweat as she panted heavily. She looked out blankly in front of her with her lifeless eyes. She then began to cough and gag uncontrollably. She crawled out of her bed only to fall off the side, hitting the floor with a thump. Her coughing and gaging slowly ended as she crawled to her feet while using her bed as support. She struggled to stay standing as her legs shook excessively. She slowly made her way to a desk with a mirror, shaking her head as she tried to push away the horrible images of the nightmare she had just awoken from. She leaned over the desk then peered into the mirror.

"Damn nightmares… It has been a while since I last had one. That was the worst one yet also…" Remilia said. She then gazed deeper into the mirror. "You soulless beings won't break me… Not the Scarlet Devil…"


	2. Chapter 2 Accusations Abound

Within her bedchambers, Remilia was looking through her collection of dresses in her closet. She gave a quick scan of them all then made her decision. She grabbed her chosen pink dress and quickly dressed herself. After dressing herself, she walked over towards her desk with a mirror where her pink cap with a red bow tied to it sat. She placed the cap on her head then looked into the mirror. She observed herself for a moment before taking her cap off and throwing it back on the desk. She took the red bow off the cap then tied it in her hair on the side of her head then once again observed herself in the mirror. Once happy with the way she looked, she left her room.

Remilia walked down the corridor, passing by her many fairy servants. The nervous fairies made sure to stay out of her way and bow as she passed, but most did not have the courage to greet her verbally. Those who did would stumble over their words or stop half way, being too afraid of attracting her attention. The fairy maids always feared their master as they should, but today they feared her particularly more. Their master did not show it, but she was dreadfully upset. She kept a calm demeanor as she headed to the main staircase of the mansion.

At the foot of the main staircase stood Sakuya Izayoi and Hong Meiling. Meiling nervously fiddled with her thumbs while Sakuya, appearing also quite nervous, paced back and forth. After a few moments, Sakuya stopped her pacing and turned to face Meiling.

"Are you positive you looked everywhere, Meiling?" Sakuya asked.

Meiling nodded. "I did. I swear I did. I looked everywhere. I checked every tree and every youkai I found in the forest. I even broke into the witch's home and looked. I brought back what books of Miss Patchouli's I could carry if that helps at all…" She sadly replied. She hung her head low in shame. "I'm so sorry, Miss Sakuya. I really messed up big time."

"No. You are not the only one who messed up. I too am to blame for this. To let someone into milady's very bedroom…" Sakuya said then started to grit her teeth in anger. "If I find the damn thief, I swear I'll-"

"You will what exactly?"

Both Sakuya and Meiling jumped in surprise from the sudden voice of their master. They quickly turned to face her while trying not to look like the nervous wrecks they were.

"Mistress! You're awake early today. I did not expect you for another-"

"So how did your little search go?" Remilia asked, cutting Sakuya off.

Sakuya resisted the urge to look away from the glare Remilia was giving her as she patiently waited for an answer from her. "Um… I am afraid to say not so well. We have yet to find-"

"You have not found the fool." Remilia said, finishing Sakuya's sentence for her.

A sweat drop rolled down Sakuya's face as she shook her head. "No, mistress, but we are-"

"Save it, you sorry excuse for a maid." Remilia said, causing Sakuya to quickly shut her mouth. Her eyes then slowly moved from her maid to the gate guard. More sweat began to run down Meiling's face as she glared at her. "As long as what belongs to me is not in my possession, I do not want to ever see you. I remember saying that to you before. Perhaps I was not clear about that?" She asked as her eyes began to let out a menacing glow.

Meiling nearly jumped out of her skin in fear from the vampire's glare. "N-N-No, mistress! Y-You were very clear about that! I'm sorry! I'll be going now! So sorry!" She nervously exclaimed then bowed before quickly taking her leave.

Sakuya jumped a little when Remilia moved her attention back to her. "I will think long and hard on what kind of punishment I will give the both of you. Until then you just wonder about what horrible things I could end up doing to you, okay?" Remilia said with a smile.

Sakuya grew pale from the smile her master was giving her. "Y-Yes, milady." She replied while nearly chocking on her words.

"Go get me my coat. I will be going outside." Remilia commanded.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya said with a bow. She then vanished into thin air, reappearing only a couple seconds later with a red coat in hand. She went to place it on Remilia, but she snatched the coat from her hands and placed it on herself.

"You do not deserve to serve me let alone touch me after your despicable failure to do your job." Remilia scolded.

"I deeply apologize, mistress. I have no excuse for my failure." Sakuya said as she bowed her head.

"No excuse is right. To let some hell-bound fool take what is mine…" Remilia said then started to grit her teeth. She breathed in then exhaled as she calmed herself down.

"I cannot apologize enough, but I swear you will have it back."

"Sakuya… If that rosary has so much as a smudge on it, you can expect to become an 'entertainer' for those in the dungeon. You understand?"

"Y-Yes, mistress…" Sakuya answered nervously with another bow.

"Good." Remilia said then made her way down the main hallway with Sakuya maintaining somewhat of a distance behind her.

Remilia grabbed a rose from a vase as she walked by it. Two fairy maids quickly opened the front doors as their master approached. She stepped outside then looked up into the cloud filled sky. She looked around a bit then headed down the side of the mansion walls, failing to shiver even as a chilling wind blew passed by her. After making her way to the east side of the mansion, she came upon a tombstone within a garden. She took the rose in her hand and sat it on the ground in front of the tomb.

An expression of surprise appeared on Sakuya's face. "It has been almost six months since you last visited his grave." She commented.

"Has it? It did not seem all that long."

"If I may ask, what made you decide to visit?"

Redness appeared in Remilia's cheeks as she remembered her dream. "I do not need a motive to explain my actions. I just felt like it, that is all." She said then turned to head back to the mansion's front doors.

"Of course. My apologies." Sakuya said as she followed her mistress. As Remilia walked, she suddenly stumbled over her feet, nearly falling to the ground before being caught by Sakuya. "Mistress!"

Remilia covered her mouth as she began to cough. After a short coughing fit, Sakuya handed her a handkerchief which she used to wipe her mouth with. "Damn… I get sick just from recalling that… nightmare."

"Nightmare? Did it involve those things again?"

"You could say that." Remilia said as she finished wiping her mouth before returning the handkerchief to Sakuya. "Have you had any nightmares involving those things lately?"

"No. It has been almost four months since the last time I had one." Sakuya said then shivered as a sense of dread ran up her spine. "I hope that one was my last."

"I was hoping the nightmare before this one was my last as well, but it seems that fight with those Horrors left a deeper impact than I expected." Remilia said then shrugged her shoulders. "Well they are just dreams in the end."

"It has been about a year and a half since that man and those Horrors appeared. Even now someone stumbles across one of those things every now and then. It seems like not all of them have been destroyed."

"Indeed. Those things are only good at hiding. Well that and looking ugly." Remilia commented, with Sakuya nodding in agreement. She and Sakuya walked up the stone steps to the entrance of the mansion, but stopped and turned around when someone called out for her.

"Lady Remilia!" Meiling shouted. She walked on the stone pathway waving her hand in the air.

"It looks like she didn't get the hint the second time either." Remilia said as she glared at the gate guard with contempt.

"Milady, it seems she has found one of the fairies that may have stolen your rosary." Sakuya said.

Following Meiling was a fairy with wings made of ice. She walked with a sense of arrogance, her arms crossed in front of her as the wind blew through her light blue hair.

"So it seems, but who is that beside the little fool?" Remilia asked.

Beside the ice fairy walked a woman with curly lavender hair and lavender eyes to match. She wore a white cap and a blue and white dress. She smiled as they approached Remilia and Sakuya.

Sakuya rubbed her chin. "I have seen her before. If I remember correctly, her name is Letty Whiterock." She said.

"Letty Whiterock, huh?" Remilia said.

"That is correct, Mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Letty said with a cheerful smile as she, Meiling and the fairy walked up the stone steps.

Meiling quickly bowed, her green cap falling off of her head in the process. "I know you told me not to show myself without the rosary, but I found one of the possible thieves." She quickly and nervously said.

"It appears you have lost something important to you, Miss Vampire." Letty said. "Though I understand why you would think little Cirno might have stolen from you, accusing someone of theft without evidence is a little immature, don't you think so?" She asked, still smiling as Remilia glared up at her.

"Yeah! I didn't take anything from ya, ya dumb vampire!" Cirno spat as she pointed at Remilia. "Even if I did, it would be rightfully mine if you were dumb enough to lose it in the first place." She said as she crossed her arms back in front of her then nodded to herself in agreement.

"For the love of all things good, Cirno, please shut up." Meiling strongly insisted.

"Yes, Cirno. Do not be rude." Letty said then bonked Cirno on the head.

"This little fool has intruded enough times that I have every right to accuse her. Her constant intrusions are enough cause to have her thrown into my dungeon." Remilia said, with Cirno sticking her tongue out at her in defiance.

"This is why I have come here with her. I knew you would not believe her own words, but maybe you will believe mine." Letty said. "She has not stolen anything from your home so I ask you to leave her be."

Remilia looked over at Cirno then back to Letty. Her lips then curled into a dark grin. "I do believe you, Miss Whiterock, but just in case you are lying…" She said then snapped her fingers. Meiling grabbed her cap from the ground then ran to her side as Sakuya pulled a knife from the holster on her thigh. "I will just have you both killed right here and now and save myself the trouble later."

"Eeeehhhh?" Cirno exclaimed in surprise and confusion.

Surprise appeared on Letty's face. "My, my… I did not expect this from you, but then again…" She said as she formed a dark grin of her own. "I am not disappointed."

"I seldom ever disappoint." Remilia stated. "Sakuya. Meiling. Kill them both." She commanded.

"As you wish, milady." Sakuya replied then threw her knife at Letty, who vanished in a flurry of snowflakes before the knife could hit her and reappearing further out in the courtyard. She beckoned Sakuya to her, with Sakuya accepting her invitation.

"Yes, milady." Meiling reluctantly said, but quickly pushed aside all hesitation then charged towards Cirno.

"Yikes!" Cirno exclaimed then flew into the air, with Meiling following her.

Remilia crossed her arms in front of her as fairy maids brought out a chair and sat it behind her. She sat down in the chair and crossed her legs then patiently waited for the fight she started to begin.

Letty stood ready with a smile as Sakuya cautiously approached her. "Well, well, well, Miss Maid. I did not think I would have the chance to fight with you again. I am glad you remembered my name, but I feel embarrassed to say that I do not remember yours." Letty said.

"Humph. Then I will remind you. My name is- Gah!" Sakuya said before being punched in the face by Letty who had suddenly appeared in front of her. She stumbled backwards then glared angrily at Letty as blood dripped from her nose.

"Sorry, but I do not remember saying that I cared to be reminded." Letty said with a grin.

"Then let the only words spoken be the name of our spell cards." Sakuya said then pulled out a spell card. "Maid Secret Skill "Marionette"!" She called out.

The second Sakuya's spell card vanished in a burst of blue fire, she too disappeared. In the following instant, a horde of knives appeared where she once stood and launched towards Letty. Letty vanished from site, leaving only a dense cluster of snowflakes for the knives to hit. She reappeared in another location, only to be forced to teleport again when another group of knives appeared and shot towards her. Once she reappeared a second time, Sakuya appeared behind her with a knife in hand. Sakuya made a horizontal slash with her knife at Letty's neck, but Letty ducked forward to avoid the strike. She then snapped back up straight, striking Sakuya in the face with the back of her head. Sakuya stumbled backwards as more blood poured from her nose then was hit with an icy blast to the stomach, knocking her back several feet and to the ground.

Letty let out a small chuckle. "Well your childish master did order you to kill me so I can't really hold back now can I?" She asked as she pulled out a spell card. "Cold Sign "Lingering Cold"." She declared.

Letty held out her hand towards Sakuya. A small, light-blue spell circle appeared in from of her hand. From the spell circle launched a dense stream of circular, light-blue danmaku. Sakuya vanished then reappeared in the air. She threw a number of knives down at Letty, who simply waved her hand in front of her, unleashing a freezing wave that froze the knives instantly and shattered them to pieces. Letty fired continuous streams of danmaku at Sakuya, forcing her to concentrate on evading. After several seconds of dodging and weaving, she teleported behind Letty then stabbed her in the back with a knife.

"Gotch'a." Sakuya declared triumphantly, but her victory became short lived when Letty turned to snow that collapsed to the ground. "Eh?" She quickly turned around from the sound of footsteps.

"Come now, Miss Maid. You know better than to underestimate a youkai." Letty said with a smile.

Sakuya growled in frustration then threw a line of knives at Letty. Letty vanished, unleashing a gust of wind that chilled Sakuya to the bone. Trying not to let herself be distracted by the shivering cold, she threw knife after knife at Letty every time she reappeared, only for her to disappear seconds before she could be hit. Letty then reappeared behind her then swiped her leg under her, knocking her off her feet. Before she hit the ground she teleported, reappearing behind Letty. She went to stab Letty in the back once more, but she quickly dodged to the side then caught her arm between her arm and side. A wave of shivering pain ran up and down her arm, forcing her to let go of her knife. She landed a punch to Letty's back, forcing her to let go of her arm, but she was struck in the chest by a retaliatory kick to the stomach. Letty turned on her heel, delivering a spinning kick to her side and knocking her to the ground. Sakuya rolled out of the way before she could be stomped on then quickly got to her feet then jumped back to avoid the icy spikes that formed from Letty's icy stomp.

A sharp blade of ice formed down Letty's arm. She then darted towards Sakuya in an attempted to stab her in the heart. Sakuya parried her strike with a knife then countered with a stab of her own. Letty leaped back to avoid the stab then thrusted her ice covered arm towards Sakuya. The icy blade quickly extended, catching Sakuya in the shoulder and cutting her. Letty's blade retracted as Sakuya stumbled backwards. Panting and shivering, she held on her bleeding shoulder as she glared at Letty.

Letty chuckled. "You seem far less focused and elegant the first time we fought. Perhaps it is the cold that is distracting you, Miss Maid?" She asked, still smiling and showing no signs of fatigue.

Sakuya pulled out a piece of cloth from her skirt pocket then wrapped it around her wound before looking back at Letty. "Perhaps, but enough talk. Milady has told me to see your end and that I shall." She said then pulled out a spell card.

Letty grinned as she pulled out a spell card of her own. "I think I made the right choice in waking up early this year. You will be the first human whose heart freezes from the unrelenting cold of winter."

Meanwhile up in the air high above the courtyard, Meiling and Cirno were in their own violent confrontation. Cirno hurled danmaku of ice at Meiling in a desperate attempt to keep her and her mighty punches and kicks at bay.

"Hail Sign "Hailstorm"!" Cirno called out.

From the gray sky came a hail of small, light-blue danmaku. Meiling quickly went on the defensive and began to dodge around the plethora of danmaku, but she began to be pelted by them as she became unable to dodge all of them. She ignored the stinging pain as she approached Cirno.

"Oh crap!" Cirno exclaimed in a panic as she ducked to avoid a jab from Meiling. "Gah!" She grunted in pain when Meiling dropped her elbow on top of her head that also sent her spiraling towards the ground below. She hit the ground with another grunt then quickly got back to her feet, leaping out of the way when Meiling tried to land on her. "Darn it, Meiling! I didn't take no rosary, I swear!" She tried to reassure.

"Do you know anything about it? Anything at all?" Meiling asked while standing in her fighting stance.

Cirno shook her head. "I don't. Honest!"

Meiling sadly shook her head. "I believe you, Cirno, I really do, but if you don't know of its possible whereabouts then I have no choice but to follow through with my master's wishes." She said then pulled out a spell card. "Forgive me, Cirno, but I must put an end to your existence as a fairy! Colorful Flip "Fluttering Petals and Falling Leaves"!" She shouted.

Meiling launched herself into the air with a flying jump kick. Her foot glowed many bright colors, unleashing different colored danmaku as she flew across the air. Cirno jumped out of the way to avoid the flying kick, rolling across the ground before getting back up. She jumped back to avoid a kick to the side of her head, but was knocked to the ground by a danmaku shot that hit her in the chest. She rolled backwards across the ground to create some distance between her and Meiling, but Meiling kept on her, landing a punch across her face. Cirno spun several times in the air from the powerful blow before hitting the ground. With blood now pouring from the corner of her mouth, she rushed to her feet then thrusted both her hands out in front of her, firing an icicle shot. Meiling easily dispatched the icy bullet, shattering it to pieces with a punch. She then sprinted towards Cirno, breaking apart more icicle shots with punches and kicks as they were fired at her. Cirno tried to take off into the air to flee, but she was caught by the foot before she could get far then was slammed to the ground. Cirno let out a painful grunt on impact, along with some blood.

Meiling held her palm toward Cirno, distress apparent in her face. "I'm sorry, Cirno, but I must do as the mistress tells me. I can't fail this time." She said as a ball of spirit energy formed in front of her palm.

"Meiling! Look out!" Sakuya's voice rang out.

Meiling quickly turned around in time to see Letty about to slice her with her blade of ice. She countered the attack with a punch, shattering the ice blade. She then leaped back out of the way to avoid the sudden gust of freezing wind Letty unleashed. She leaped back once more to create distance between herself and Letty and Cirno. Sakuya soon appeared beside her, shivering and bleeding from the many cuts all over her body.

"Are you alright, Miss Sakuya?" Meiling asked as she remained on guard.

"I'm fine." Sakuya replied.

Letty helped Cirno to her feet then looked back at Sakuya and Meiling. "My, my… I must say I am enjoying myself. How about you two?" She asked. She frowned when she failed to receive an answer. She then looked down at Cirno with a smile. "Well how about you, young one?"

"Yeah… Real fun…" Cirno grumbled as she wiped her bloody mouth on her arm.

"Oh, don't be like that." Letty said as she patted Cirno on the head.

Sakuya pulled out three knives from her holster. "Alright, Meiling. If we are to even begin to reconcile with milady, we need to get rid of these two. You understand?"

"Yes." Meiling answered with a nod as she readied herself, a determined expression present on her face.

"Good. Then let us not fail in front of the mistress." Sakuya said as she pulled out a spell card, as did Meiling.

Watching as the fight continued, Remilia rested her chin on the palm of her hand. She smirked a little, appearing to be entertained by the ongoing fight. Suddenly, something caught her attention. She looked up into the sky to spot a peculiar figure flying across the sky towards the mansion on what appeared to be a broom. Her content expression faded as anger began to return to her.

Flying through the sky was a girl flying on a broom. She wore your typical witch's outfit, complete with a black, pointy hat. Appearing not so happy herself, she flew across the sky at high speeds towards the red mansion.

"Steal your books back while I'm away now will ya…" Marisa mumbled angrily to herself. "Look out!" She exclaimed when Remilia suddenly appeared in her path. She came to a screeching halt then glared at the vampire who hovered in the air with her arms crossed in front of her. "Watch where ya go'n, ze! You gonna hurt someone appearing like that y'know."

"Back to steal more, thief?" Remilia asked as she glared back at Marisa.

"I'm here to steal back what was stolen from me. The books I took from Patchouli now step aside." Marisa demanded.

"Patchy's books weren't enough for you that you needed to steal from the Scarlet Devil herself? You really are itching to be taken to the gates of hell, aren't you?" Remilia asked.

"Eh? What you talk'n about, da ze? You have nothin that interests me so-"

"Silence, you damn thief!" Remilia bellowed, cutting off Marisa. "I know it was you who stole my rosary! Only you would have the nerve to do such a despicable thing! Only you would steal what is precious to me!"

"Oh god, please don't go all Alice on me." Marisa said in disgust.

"I will send you screaming to the gates of hell myself!" Remilia declared as she pulled a spell card out. "Now die for your crime! Scarlet Sign "Scarlet Shoot"!" She called out.

"You crazy vampire!" Marisa exclaimed as she rushed to avoid a large red danmaku blast fired by Remilia.

Remilia fired one blast of danmaku after another at the fleeing witch. Her large danmaku were trailed by small danmaku that would spread out in a wide area. Using her great speeds, Marisa flew around and between the danmaku.

"Ha! Ya want a spell card battle? I'll give ya spell card battle." Marisa said with a cocky grin. Her cocky grin disappeared when Remilia suddenly appeared in her path, forcing her to stop.

"Wrong, witch. I want you dead." Remilia said then delivered a powerful jab to Marisa's face, sending her flying off of her broom.

Marisa spun several times as she flew across the sky uncontrollably. After she stopped herself, she held her face as blood poured from her badly bruised nose. "Oooowwww… The crazy bitch must be on her period." She said as her eyes became watery.

"Dark Sign "Scarlet Netherworld"!" Remilia called out in a booming voice, unleashing a large shower of small red danmaku towards Marisa.

Marisa growled angrily. "Remember you are the one her started this, da ze!" She shouted then pulled out what appeared to be a wooden object of octagonal shape. The wooden object began to glow as she held it to her side with both of her hands. "Maaasteeerrr Spaaaarrrrk!" She shouted with a booming voice as she thrusted her hands forward, unleashing a powerful beam of different radiant colors from her wooden item that thundered across the sky. The beam smashed through the curtain of red danmaku, but failed to hit its target. "Damn it. Hard to focus. Nose hurts too much, ze." She said. Remilia, using her vampiric speed, quickly appeared in front of her then delivered a punch to her stomach. "Gaaah!" She hunched over in pain then was grabbed by the head by Remilia who then headbutted her, hitting her already broken nose. Before she could do anything, Remilia grabbed her by the neck with both of her hands and started to squeeze.

"I have no time for games. Tell me where my rosary is and I'll make your death quick and maybe, just maybe, painless." Remilia said as she choked Marisa.

"I… no noth'n… about a ro… rosary…" Marisa struggled to say as Remilia continued to choke her.

"You're lying!" Remilia yelled then squeezed Marisa's neck harder, her sharp nails digging into her neck and drawing blood. Her angered expression disappeared when she felt something land on her head. "Huh?" She looked up to find that someone dressed in red and white was standing on top of her head.

"Yo… Reimu…" Marisa managed to force out.

"Eh? Reimu? What are you-" Before Remilia could finish her sentence, the girl atop her head delivered a powerful stomp to the top of her head, forcing her to let go of Marisa and sending her crashing to the ground below. She hit the ground with great force, causing the ground to shake and forming a small crater where she landed. Remilia crawled out of the hole and scowled. "Stupid Reimu…"

Reimu landed next to Remilia as she stood up. "Stupid me? Stupid you!" Reimu scolded then hit Remilia over the head with her gohei.

"Ow!" Remilia exclaimed.

"The hell you thinking getting all violent for? Look at what you did to Marisa." Reimu said then pointed at Marisa just as she descended to the ground.

"She's gone all crazy, Reimu." Marisa said as she leaned her head back as she tried to keep more blood from pouring out of her broken nose while blood dripped from the cuts on her neck.

"You'll be dead for stealing my possession!" Remilia shouted then was hit over the head by Reimu again. "Ow!"

"Knock it off!" Reimu demanded. She tilted her head to the side to avoid a stray danmaku shot. She looked over to where Sakuya, Meiling, Letty and Cirno were still fighting one another. "Hey hey hey! Cut it out or I'll smack you all!" She yelled out and as if on command, the four girls ceased their fighting. She then returned her attention to Remilia. "How about we get out of this cold and go inside? You can offer us some tea and explain what your problem is."

"Tea sounds good." Marisa commented.

Remilia sighed. "Some tea would be nice right now. You could also tell me what has brought you here. It is not often that you come here to visit my wonderful home." She said. She turned to Sakuya as she and the other three girls approached. "Sakuya, prepare some tea."

"Yes, milady." Sakuya said with a bow then vanished.

Remilia then turned to Letty. "I suppose I should invite you and the little fool as well. I am sure you enjoy tea as well." She said.

"Thank you kindly, Miss Scarlet, but I believe we have staid long enough. We had our fun so we should be going now. Right, Cirno?" Letty said with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah. I just wanna go home." The exhausted Cirno said with a slight whine.

"That settles it then. Come along then, Reimu." Remilia said to Reimu then looked over at Marisa with a menacing glare. "I suppose I will have Sakuya tend to your wounds." She said then headed towards the entrance of the mansion with Reimu right behind her.

"Yeah… Thanks…" Marisa scowled as she held her still bleeding nose. "Frik'n biiiiitch…" She mumbled then followed Remilia and Reimu.


	3. Chapter 3 A Strange Sickness

In a small dining room of the Scarlet Mansion, Remilia, Reimu and Marisa sat at the mastercraft table. Remilia and Reimu sipped at their tea while Sakuya treated Marisa's wounds.

"So what's your deal, Remilia? Why you attack me like that?" Marisa asked as Sakuya wrapped a bandage around her neck, covering the deep cuts.

"You have a lot of nerve to even ask that, witch. If it wasn't for Reimu I would have snapped your neck like a twig." Remilia threatened.

"Alright. Enough of that kind of talk." Reimu said as she sat her cup of tea down on the table. "Even if it's Marisa you don't normally attack that viciously so what appears to be the problem?" She asked of Remilia.

"Well… My rosary has been stolen. Last night I had looked in the box that I keep it in to find that it was gone." Remilia said then glared menacingly at Marisa. "That can mean only one thing. Someone has stolen it."

"I said I didn't take it, jeez…" Marisa said.

"I see why you would blame Marisa, but your rosary isn't something she would steal." Reimu insisted.

"I don't steal! I borrow!" Marisa protested.

"Besides, don't you have many rosaries? What's the big deal with losing one of them?" Reimu asked.

Remilia took a sip of her tea then sat it down on a small plate. "Reimu… This particular rosary is very important to me. The only thing more important than it would be my dear sister." She said.

"Is it really? Why is it so special?" Reimu asked with a curious expression.

"A past lover give it to you or something, ze?" Marisa asked with a sly look on her face.

"All you need to know is that it is very important to me and it must be found at all costs. This is a great incident that must be resolved as quick as possible." Remilia strongly insisted.

"Nope." Reimu said then finished her cup of tea.

"Don't be so mean, Reimu!" Remilia pouted.

"Look. I sympathize with you, but this is your own problem. I have too many of my own as it is to deal with. I can't take on yours when you can handle it yourself." Reimu said.

Remilia let out a sigh as she leaned back in her chair. "You're right. I do need to handle this myself. Of course if a certain somebody had done their job correctly…" She said as she glanced over at Sakuya, who began to sweat nervously as she quickly finished bandaging Marisa.

"Too many problems you say, da ze? Let me name a few." Marisa said. "Donations low this month. Not enough food. That shrine maiden from the mountain doing better than you. Can't get-" She listed before Reimu jabbed her in the nose with her gohei. "Arrg! My nose!" She cried out as she held her now bleeding nose.

"You are one of my problems!" Reimu shouted angrily.

"Is there really that many youkai that are causing you problems?" Sakuya asked of Reimu.

"It's not just youkai…" Reimu said then sighed as she rested her forehead on the table.

"Do tell." Remilia asked with a slight smirk as she already knew the answer.

Reimu lifted her head off the table. "One of those damn things attacked me in my dreams. Took me what seemed like days to break out of it. Then I had to contend with it for real." She said. An expression of anger then formed on her face. "The damn thing wrecked my shrine and broke my favorite tea set!" She angrily yelled.

"Aww, man. I liked that set too, ze." Marisa commented. "I haven't seen one of those things since Patchouli tried to bind one. Looks like their numbers are just about zero, da ze."

"I see. So you came here to drink some of Sakuya's fine tea to clear your mind of your encounter with one of those things. I'm a bit disappointed to hear that." Remilia said then hopped off her chair. She walked over to Reimu then snuggled up to her, smiling mischievously. "I was hoping you were here for me. I would be glad to help you clear that head of yours."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Reimu bluntly said as she shooed Remilia away.

Remilia chuckled. "Don't be so shy, Reimu. All you need to do is ask." She said with a wink.

"I think I'll pass." Reimu said as she shrugged her shoulders.

The girls gave their attention to the entrance of the room when someone walked in. In the doorway stood Flandre Scarlet. Instead of appearing like her normal, cheerful self, she looked sickly and pale as she held a hand over her stomach. She moaned in discomfort as she stepped into the room.

"Remi… I don't feel so good…" Flandre said in a weak voice.

"Flan? What is the matter, my dear sister?" Remilia asked as she ran over to Flandre. She placed her hand over Flandre's forehead.

"Whoa, Flandre. You look worse than Suika that time me and Reimu hid her gourd for a few days." Marisa commented.

"This is serious, you fool." Remilia said.

"Eh? Since when could vampires get sick?" Reimu asked.

"Since never." Remilia answered. "Flan, tell me where it hurts."

"Everywhere… It hurts to move and everything is all blurry." Flandre said then coughed.

"You're burning up as if you have a fever." Remilia said as she removed her hand from Flandre's forehead then held her to her chest to comfort her.

"But that's impossible, correct?" Sakuya asked.

"Correct. Vampires are immune to sickness." Remilia said.

"Unless it's a magical sickness, right?" Reimu asked.

"Correct again." Remilia said.

"Is there such a youkai strong enough to cause a vampire to become sick?" Sakuya asked.

Reimu sighed then stood up. "There is." She said.

"Yup, da ze." Marisa said as she stood up to follow Reimu. "And the youkai in question is named Yamame Kurodani." She said, with Reimu nodding to confirm.

Remilia growled angrily as she glared threateningly at Sakuya. "Not only did you let someone steal my rosary, but you let them harm my dear little sister. You and that so-called gate guard are surely driving my patience." She said in a raised and angered voice.

Sakuya quickly bowed. "I am greatly sorry, milady. I swear it will never happen again." She said.

"At least you know who may have taken your rosary now as well." Reimu said then headed for the exit.

"Will you not go and bring the criminal here, Reimu?" Remilia asked with pleading eyes.

"I told you I got things to do. Like fix my shrine up." Reimu said then grumbled angrily to herself at the thought of fixing her shrine yet again. "You will find that youkai in The Underworld. Try not to cause too much trouble down there. They were hit the worst during that Horror Incident." She said then took her leave.

"I'll help ya for Flandre's sake." Marisa said.

"You would help her by dying." Remilia scowled.

"Was breaking my nose not enough for ya, ze?" Marisa asked.

"Anyways. Sakuya, go and get that worthless gate guard. Have her watch over Flandre while we go to The Underworld for some youkai hunting. The rosary will have to wait until Flandre is well again." Remilia ordered.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya said with a bow then vanished.

Remilia pushed Flandre's face away from her chest. "Let's take you to your bedroom so you can rest, dear sister." She said to Flandre.

"Okay…" Flandre weakly replied with a nod.

* * *

After taking Flandre to her room to rest, Remilia, along with Sakuya and Marisa, made their way to The Underworld. After a brief flight across the grey sky, they arrived at the base of Youkai Mountain. They traveled down to the world below on foot, making idle conversation along the way.

"I don't know why you're getting all upset about that, ze." Marisa said as she walked with her broom over one shoulder. "I blew that damn thing back to wherever it came from before it could have done any serious damage."

"You ruined my entire courtyard, you worthless girl." Remilia stated.

"Less than what that thing would have done I'm sure and you shouldn't put all the blame on me anyways. Patchouli was the one who was keeping it in the library. Trying to figure out how to control it or whatever." Marisa said.

"Without my knowledge I might add." Remilia said. Sakuya handed her a handkerchief when sweat began to roll down her forehead. The heat rose the deeper they descended into the dark world. She wiped her face then handed the handkerchief back to Sakuya. "Now that I think about it, I have not seen that shut in for a while now."

"The last time I went to bring her her favorite snack the door was locked from the inside. A magical seal was also placed on it, preventing me from entering." Sakuya said.

"Again with her weird experiments. It better not have anything to do with one of those things this time or there will be hell to pay." Remilia said.

"Whatever it is she's doing she had asked Alice and me to help. Alice said she was too busy with other things and well… You don't let me into the mansion, ze." Marisa said.

"You say that as if that has stopped you before." Sakuya said, causing Marisa to chuckle a little.

After a long hike into the subterranean world, the three girls came to a bridge. They began crossing it, but Marisa stopped when she noticed a girl leaning over the bridge and looking out into the distance.

"Well looky here, ze. It's the bridge girl." Marisa said.

"Hmm?" The blond haired girl, seemingly brought out of her thoughts, turned around at the sound of Marisa's voice. She sighed as she leaned up against the guardrail of the bridge. "Great… People from above ground. What do I owe the pleasure?"

"You can waste time here and chat with your friend, but we are going to keep moving forward." Remilia said to Marisa as she and Sakuya continued walking.

"Hold up. She can help us look for that spider girl." Marisa said.

Remilia and Sakuya stopped then turned to face the girl. "And what would this girl's name be?" Remilia asked.

"This girl's name is Parsee Mizuhashi. We have met once before, Miss Vampire." Parsee said.

"Have we now?" Remilia asked.

"It was during that man's funeral." Sakuya stated.

"Yeah, but I was only there because Yuugi wanted to go." Parsee said.

"Ah, the oni… Yes, I remember her. Unfortunately…" Remilia said.

"So what brings you people down here? Though with the witch here I can probably guess." Parsee said.

"Don't be like that." Marisa protested.

"We are here looking for an underground youkai who has harmed my younger sister and stolen from me. Her name is Yamame Kurodani. Perhaps you know her?" Remilia asked.

A surprised expression appeared on Parsee's face. "Of course I know her. She's a friend of mine and I really doubt she has done what you say she has done." She said.

"That is for me to find out." Remilia said.

"She hasn't been up above in a long time I assure you." Parsee insisted. "Yamame is not the youkai you're looking for so turn back and go home." She said. Suddenly, Sakuya was in front of her, pointing a knife at her neck.

"Being a bit demanding are you not?" Remilia asked.

Parsee glared at Sakuya. "We have enough problems down here as it is. Last thing we need is people from above ground coming down here and adding to the problem. So I'll say it again… Turn back and go home." She said.

"Your problems are none of my concern. If you want us gone quickly then I suggest you tell me where your friend is." Remilia said in a more threatening tone of voice.

Parsee let out a disgruntled sigh. "Figures… I think I'd have a better chance convincing an oni to stop drinking. You people from above ground really are a stubborn lot." She said then swatted Sakuya's arm away, knocking the knife out of her hand. She then quickly landed a jab to Sakuya's chest, sending her stumbling backwards as she held onto her hurt chest. "I was tasked with letting no one enter or leave. If you want to fight then bring it." She said with a determined expression, but a nervous sweat drop rolled down the side of her face from the fact that she was outnumbered.

Remilia grinned. "So you are going to fight back? That is fine. As that criminal's friend, I'll just consider you as an accomplice." She said. She went to snap her fingers to give Sakuya the signal to attack, but stopped when she noticed a figure walking towards them.

"Parsee! Just what the hell are ya do'n, eh?" A tall woman with long blond hair and a horn sticking out of the center of her forehead shouted.

Parsee sighed in relief. "Thank goodness it's Yuugi." She said.

"Alright. Alright. Just what the hell is go'n on here?" Yuugi asked. Surprise appeared on her face when she recognized Remilia. "Well I'll be… It's that little vampire from that mansion. What brings a small critter such as you all the way down here, eh?" She asked.

Remilia winced slightly from Yuugi's words. "Humph. I am here looking for a youkai named Yamame Kurodani. I would like you to take me to her." She said in a demanding tone.

Yuugi grinned. "Ha! And what would you want with that little youkai, eh? I hope you're not here to start a fight. I would be upset if you did. We got enough problems and don't want no trouble from you above ground folk." She said.

"This vampire is accusing her of theft and-"

"Causing my younger sister to become sick." Remilia said, finishing Parsee's sentence for her.

Yuugi let out a laugh. "Stealing? From that crummy place of yours? And I didn't even know you had a younger sister." She said.

A vein became more apparent on the side of Remilia's head as she grew aggravated. "Indeed I do have a younger sibling and that place you call 'crummy' is my home. I suggest you be careful with your choice of words, oni." She said.

Yuugi walked up to Remilia then stared her down. "Look here, friend. We don't want any trouble, okay? Things have been a bit hectic down here so we would appreciate that you help us by not bothering us." She said.

"Are those things still bothering ya?" Marisa asked of Yuugi.

Yuugi shook her head. "Nah. We got them pretty much cleared out. Haven't seen one in a few months now." She replied.

"Underground youkai have been disappearing lately and we've been trying to find out why." Parsee added.

"Yup." Yuugi confirmed. She then looked back down at Remilia. "Take it from an oni. Yamame hasn't taken anything from you or hurt your little sister. So why don't you take your cute little self and go back home. If you keep insisting on getting across this here bridge, you're just gonna get that pretty dress of yours all torn up."

"You think I would come all the way here myself just to turn back without getting what I came here to get? You oni are all fools." Remilia said as she glared up at the tall oni. "Step aside, oni. I will find out myself if this Yamame is the criminal or not."

A dark grin formed on Yuugi's face. "Well you know I'm not about to do that. First you throw the worst funeral I've ever been to. Then you come down here try'n to start someth'n with Parsee here. Now you call me a liar. That's three strikes for you, little vampire." She said.

Remilia formed a dark grin of her own. "Oh? And what would be the punishment?" She asked.

"A beat down from yours truly!" Yuugi declared as she pulled a fist back then threw it towards Remilia. She missed Remilia when she leaped backwards and instead struck the bridge, unleashing a powerful blast from the force of impact.

"Oh jeez! Here we go!" Marisa exclaimed excitedly as she held on to her hat to keep it from being blown away from the blast.

Parsee went to launch an attack against Sakuya when she went to assist Remilia, but stopped when Yuugi called out to her. "Stand back, Parsee. Let me handle 'em." Yuugi said as she cracked her knuckles.

"Oh, there you go. Acting all tough again. Can't help but get jealous from your overly cocky attitude. Humph…" Parsee said then crossed her arms.

"You stand back as well, Sakuya. This oni needs to learn when she needs to stand down." Remilia said.

"As you wish, milady." Sakuya said.

"Aww… Guess I'll be watching this time around, ze." Marisa said in a disappointed tone as she sat down on the bridge's railing.

"Let's see just how well that vampire body of yours can stand up to the might of an oni!" Yuugi exclaimed then darted towards Remilia.

Yuugi threw a jab towards Remilia, missing her when she leaped over the strike. Remilia counter attacked with a knee to the center of her face, but was surprised when she endured the hit without so much as flinching. Yuugi grinned then quickly retaliated with an uppercut, striking Remilia in the chin and with enough force to tear her head off her shoulders. Blood splattered everywhere as her head nearly flew off, only being kept on by a string of flesh. With her head dangling behind her, she leaped backwards to create some distance between her and the oni. Her head then snapped back up into place as she healed in a matter of seconds.

Yuugi let out a whistle. "Color me impressed. You vampires and your regenerative powers is noth'n to sneeze at after all." She said. "Looks like I'll be beat'n on ya for a while until you cry uncle."

"Humph. Unlikely. I have more important things to do than impress you so I will be ending this very shortly." Remilia said as she pulled out a spell card. "Critical "Heart Break"." She declared.

A dark red aura formed around Remilia. Part of the aura began to swirl around both of her arms and down to her hands. From the aura formed the shape of two small spears. She held one up above her head then threw it. The time it took for the spear-shaped aura to travel the distance between Remilia and Yuugi was nearly an instant, but Yuugi was ready. Yuugi quickly held up her arm as a shield, letting the glowing red spear break against the manacle on her wrist. Remilia threw her second spear, only for Yuugi to block it with her other arm. Remilia formed more small spears from her aura then began throwing them one after another. Yuugi jumped over one spear then smashed another one with a powerful punch. She let the next spear smash against her chest, but she grunted from the painful sting. Shrugging off the pain, she continued her way towards Remilia, dodging and blocking the numerous red spears thrown at her. Her approach came to a standstill as she found herself unable to get through the volley of red spears being thrown at her.

"Bah! You're smart for keep'n out of reach of an oni, but ya won't be able to keep me away with these things for long." Yuugi stated then stomped the bridge with her great strength, causing boards of wood to fly up into the air. Remilia was forced to cease her attacks and evade the flying pieces of wood. "Shackles Sign "Criminals' Irremovable Shackles"!" She called out.

Not a second sooner after Yuugi had called out her attack, Remilia found herself surrounded by large, magic blue manacles. The spinning manacles tried to wrap around her in order to ensnare her, but she quickly flew out of them before they could close in on her. She was then forced to duck when Yuugi suddenly appeared in her way while throwing out a quick jab towards her head. She extended her nails then slashed upwards with them, but to her surprise, they broke against the oni's armor-like skin. She then leaped back to avoid a left hook from Yuugi then tried to block a right hook with her arm, but the force of Yuugi's strike snapped the bone in her lower arm in half. Her arm quickly snapped back together, allowing her to retaliate with a powerful punch to Yuugi's gut, knocking some wind out of her. She leaped into the air with a kick to her chin then finished with a magical red blast to her face, causing her to stumble backwards.

Yuugi growled in frustration, but her annoyed expression quickly turned to one of enjoyment. "Not only is your kind strong, but you're quick little devils too." She said.

"You have no idea, oni." Remilia said.

"I think I'm get'n the idea. And hopefuly you'll get the idea that you never lower your guard in the face of an oni." Yuugi said then formed a grin.

Before Remilia could react, a magic manacle suddenly surrounded her then closed tightly around her, ensnaring her in place. "Eh? One of these things was still floating around?" The second she finished her sentence, the manacle exploded violently in a ball of magical blue flames that consumed her.

Yuugi chuckled as she placed her hands on her hips. "Regenerative powers or no regenerative powers, that's gonna leave one hell of a mark." She said with a triumphed expression. Her expression quickly faded when a swarm of small flying creatures flew out from the smoke of the explosion. "Eh? Are those bats?" She asked. She then put up her guard when the swarm of bats quickly surrounded her. They flew around her in a tight formation, creating what looked like a spinning black wall with numerous red, beady eyes. She looked around confused. "The hell she do'n?" Suddenly, a small blast of red energy shot out from a random spot from the wall of bats, striking her in the calf of her right leg. "Gah!" She cried out in pain as she nearly lost her footing. Another energy shot caught her in the shin, while two other struck her in the chest. She regained her battle stance then gritted her teeth in anger. "Oh, now you've done it. Ya gone and pissed me off."

Tightening her right fist, Yuugi ran towards the wall with a roar then, with her tremendous strength, drove her fist into the wall of bats. The force of the punch blew a large hole in the wall of bats, destroying many of the bats in the process. To her dismay, the hole quickly refilled with more bats, leaving the wall unscathed. She scowled at the sound of Remilia's childish laugh echoing around her.

"Oh, my! Even though I'm not in my normal form, I still felt that hit as if I were. Quite a feat, oni!" Remilia's voice echoed.

"You haven't felt noth'n yet, vampire! Stop fly'n around like that and fight me hand to hand!" Yuugi called out. The bats ceased their circling around her then flew behind her, forming into Remilia. The second she finished reforming, Yuugi turned around and grabbed her. "Gotch'a! Now what you gonna… do…?" She said, but her victorious expression slowly faded when she noticed a burning spell card in Remilia's hand.

"Ending this." Remilia replied. "Scarlet Sign "Red the Nightless Castle"!"

In an instant of declaring her spell card, Remilia erupted into a large burning aura that took the shape of a cross. The sudden release of Remilia's incredible magical power forced Yuugi to let go off her. She was set ablaze and sent flying backwards from the blast. She flew across the air consumed in magical red flames before crashing into the ground then tumbling several feet and coming to a stop.

Shaking from shock, Yuugi slowly started to push herself off of the ground as smoke rose from her burnt dress. "Yup… Didn't see that one come'n. Gonna need a few drinks to shake that one off." She said. Just when she got her head off the ground, she was shoved back down when Remilia stepped down on the back of her head.

"I am done with you. Now, you either take me to the one I seek or stay down where you are." Remilia said.

"Eeeeeyaaaaahhhhh!"

With an eyebrow raised, Remilia turned her head to the sudden yell. "What in earth is- Oof!" Before she could finish her sentence, she took a flying bucket to the face. She stumbled backwards, holding her hands over her injured face and growling in aggravation.

From the bucket crawled out a small girl with dark teal hair tied up in pigtails on the sides of her head by white beads and wearing a white robe. She quickly rose to her feet, brandishing the bucket in her hand by the handle.

"Come on! You want some more? I'll flip you like a damn omelet!" The girl shouted while holding a threatening expression and spinning the bucket around in circles.

Remilia uncovered her face, glaring menacingly at the small girl. "You… You dare hit the Scarlet Devil in the face with a-" She said before the girl smacked her across the head with the bucket, breaking the bucket in the process. Fazed by the attack only slightly, she continued to stare dagger-eyes at the girl.

The girl's expression quickly turned to one of fear. "Uh Oh… Not sure what made me think that would work." She said as she took a few steps backwards away from Remilia. She let out a shriek when Remilia grabbed her by the front of her robe and lifted her off her feet. "No! Put me down! I didn't mean to do that! I swear!"

"I'm going to pop you out of existence and pretend you were never even here to begin with." Remilia threatened, but she was quickly forced to release the girl when Yuugi made a swing at her. She jumped backwards to avoid the punch.

The girl got back up onto her feet as she rubbed her head. "Ooow…" She groaned

"Kisume, what the hell ya do'n interfer'n in my fight, huh? Ya know better." Yuugi said as she bonked Kisume on the head.

"Ow! I uh, saw you on the ground and thought you needed help." Kisume said.

"Help? Ha! If I'm on the ground then that just means horrible things are come'n for the one who put me there." Yuugi stated.

From across the bridge, another girl was running towards the scene of the fight. The girl had blonde hair that was tied up in a bun with a brown ribbon. She wore a black and brown dress that was puffy under the waist.

"Kisume! Why'd you run off like that?" The girl shouted as she ran towards Yuugi and Kisume.

"Ah, Yamame!" Kisume called out as she waved her hand in the air.

Remilia's eyes widened from hearing the name. "Yamame?" She turned to face Sakuya who stood waiting on the bridge. "Sakuya!" She called out.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya answered, vanishing in an instant and reappearing behind Yamame. She grabbed her and held a knife to her neck.

"Whoa! What's going on here?" Yamame panicked as she struggled to break herself free.

"Yamame!" Parsee went to assist Yamame, but stopped when she found an octagonal-shaped wooden object held up to the side of her head. With a worried expression, she slowly turned her head to face Marisa who held a cocky grin.

"You forget about me, ze?" Marisa asked.

"Crap…" Parsee grumbled.

"Ah! Yuugi, do something!" Kisume pleaded.

Yuugi let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright. This is get'n out of hand." She said.

Remilia approached the restrained Yamame. "So you are the one who caused my young sister to become ill and steal my possession." She said.

A confused expression appeared on Yamame's face. "Huh? What are you talking about? I've done no such thing!" She snapped.

"Deny it all you want. It won't prevent me from bringing down swift justice upon you." Remilia said. She held her hand above her head. Her hand began to glow a dark red as she poured her power into her palm, but it stopped glowing when Yuugi grabbed her by the wrist.

"Alright, cut it out. Your baseless accusation ends now." Yuugi said.

"Haven't learned your lesson yet, oni." Remilia asked as she glared up at Yuugi.

"Can someone explain to me why this silver-haired woman is holding a knife up to my neck for?" Yamame asked.

"These people from above ground believe you are the source of some problems they are having." Parsee said.

"Eh? Why me?" Yamame asked.

Remilia yanked her hand away from Yuugi. "My sister has become ill, something that is not possible for a vampire unless the illness is magical in nature. Only a strong youkai could have made her sick and you, from what I am told, can inflict a magical illness." Remilia said.

Yamame's expression turned to that of surprise. "Huh? You think I'm strong?" A proud look then replaced her confused expression. "Well I guess I am, aren't I?"

"You caused my sister to become ill and stole my rosary. The quicker you tell me where my rosary is the quicker you die. Now out with it." Remilia demanded.

"What? You think I stole something also? Who do you think I am? Marisa?" Yamame asked.

"No need to be mean to me, ze." Marisa said with a disapproving look.

"I'm telling you Yamame did not steal or harm anyone." Parsee insisted.

"Of course not. If I wanted something from you I would have fought you up front over it and I'm not interested in starting an incident by spreading diseases aboveground… at the moment." Yamame said.

"She speaks the truth, Miss Vampire. She's been with me the entire time and we haven't been above ground in a long time." Kisume said.

"See, little vampire? Yamame here is innocent. We won't make ya apologize for be'n wrong as long as ya leave now." Yuugi said.

"Hmm…" Remilia began pondering to herself.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need to vouch for Yamame." Marisa said. "I can say for certain that she didn't take anything from ya at the least."

"If you thought that then why did you not say anything before?" Sakuya asked.

"Because you wouldn't have believed me, ze." Marisa said.

Remilia let out a disgruntled groan. "We have wasted enough time down here. Let us go, Sakuya." She said then began the trip back to the aboveground.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya said. She released Yamame then followed Remilia.

"Well, this was fun while it lasted. See yas." Marisa said to Yuugi with a two finger salute then ran to catch up to Remilia and Sakuya.

Yuugi let out a laugh. "Sure was!" She yelled. "You come back sometime when things have calmed down a bit here, little vampire! We can't let our little bout go unfinished." She called out to Remilia as she, Parsee, Yamame and Kisume waved the three off.

* * *

After another hike, Remilia, Sakuya and Marisa left The Underworld. Once reaching the surface, they flew back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Upon arriving, they landed outside the gate then made they're way through the courtyard and to the front doors of the mansion. The first fall of snow came in the form of a small flurry of snowflakes that floated towards the ground as the girls walked.

"Such a waste of my precious time." Remilia grumbled.

"Serves you right for accusing people without evidence." Marisa said.

"Why are you following us? Go home." Remilia demanded.

"I'm gonna see how Flan is doing first. Maybe stick around and fix up something for her to help the illness pass quicker, ze." Marisa said.

"Do you know of any other youkai that could have caused the young mistress to become sick, Miss Marisa?" Sakuya asked.

Marisa shook her head. "Nadda." She answered.

The three girls walked down the stone path way then up the stone steps. Just before they reached the doors of the mansion, they flung open. In the doorway stood an awfully pale Meiling, surprising the three.

"Daaaaamn, China girl, you look like crap, ze." Marisa commented.

"Oh, thank… thank the heavens you're back." Meiling said as she let out a sigh of relief then coughing into her hand shortly after. She appeared fatigued and out of breath and also shivered from the cold air and from an apparent sickness.

"Meiling, are you alright? Why on earth do you look so sick?" Sakuya asked worriedly.

"I… I don't know. When I was getting a new warm… a warm washcloth for Lady Flandre, I noticed my skin was pale. It was pale… it… I-I then started to cough and… and uh…" Meiling's eyes nervously moved from side to side and she spoke as if she was suffering from a slight case of delirium.

"Hong Meiling, look at me." Remilia ordered, gaining Meiling's attention. "Where is my sister? Why are you not beside her? Answer me."

Meiling nervously twiddled her thumbs. "The fairies… Some of the fairy maids are sick too and um…"

"I did not ask about the fairy maids, Meiling. Tell me where my sister is." Remilia demanded in a raised voice as she grew agitated.

Meiling's eyes wondered to the ground while she appeared to grow more confused. Blood started to trickle down from her nose. "Lady Flandre… She's…" Suddenly, fright and panic appeared on her face. "Lady Flandre! I got to go to her. Lady Remilia told me to stay by her side! I can't disobey her!" She exclaimed as she turned to run back into the mansion, only to nearly stumble to the ground before being caught by Sakuya. She covered her mouth as she started to cough heavily.

"Meiling, get a hold of yourself!" Sakuya pleaded.

"This is not good." Marisa said as she nervously bit at her thumb nail.

Remilia ran into the mansion with Marisa soon following close behind her. She ran down the hallway, passing by many of her fairy servants. Many of the fairies appeared to be in the same condition Meiling was in. Some even appeared worse. Those who were not ill were aiding the sick, bringing them water and or comforting them. The further into the mansion Remilia ran, the more fairies she passed that were sick. Some moaned in agony as they laid or sat up against the wall, coughing nonstop to the point of nearly suffocating while others vomited over the floor. Some of the sick looked around confused and frightened, seemingly unaware of what was going on around them. Others called out for help as tears ran down their terrified faces.

A sick fairy sat by herself, shaking her head over and over again. "What is everyone doing? Isn't anyone going to help me clean this room? I can't do this myself. I can't I just can't…" She said weakly as another fairy wiped blood that dripped from her nose off with a piece of cloth.

Another sick fairy sat on the floor, cradling the motionless body of a fellow fairy. She looked around scared and confused. "She won't wake up I don't know why but she won't she just won't… Someone please help her…" She said in a weak voice as a tear of blood ran down from one of her eyes.

A fairy, who appeared not to be affected by the sickness, hid under a table with her hands covering her terrified face. "I won't become sick I won't become sick I won't become sick…" She repeated as she shook her head in denial.

Remilia observed the state of the fairies as she ran passed them while some of them reached out for her and pleaded for help.

One fairy tried to comfort another fairy as she vomited uncontrollably. "Please help her! She's going to choke to death!" The horrified fairy cried out.

A deathly pale fairy had numerous bloody scratch marks all over her arms. "The itching won't stop! The itching won't stop!" The fairy screamed as she scratched her arms without control.

"Please help us, milady!" A fairy begged.

"Lady Remilia, help us!" Another fairy called out.

The fairies called out for their master as she ran passed, but not knowing how to help them, she kept on running, passing by more and more fairies who desperately pleaded for her help. Sweat poured from Remilia's and Marisa's horrified faces and they continued on their way.

"What is happening to them? Is a disease really capable of doing this?" Marisa asked as she tried to keep herself from looking at all the suffering fairies as she ran passed them.

"I don't know. I have no idea what is happening." Remilia replied.

Remilia and Marisa quickly darted down the stone stairs that lead to the basement of the mansion. Remilia shoved a set of black doors open and entered a dark bedroom. In the center of the room sat a large bed. In the bed was Flandre who laid on her side motionless.

Remilia ran to the bed then jumped onto it and crawled to Flandre's side. "Flan! Flan, wake up!" She shouted as she shook Flandre, but got no response.

Marisa covered her mouth in shock. "She's… She's not dead, is she?" She asked hesitantly.

Remilia scooped Flandre up onto her lap, allowing her to see that Flandre's eyes were open. Her eyes appeared empty and devoid of any life. "If she were a human she would unmistakably be considered dead right now." She said then began stroking Flandre's blond hair. "Flandre, sister… Can you hear me?" She asked softly. After a few seconds, Flandre's lips appeared to move, causing Remilia to sigh in a little relief.

"It hurts…" Flandre said in such a pitiful voice she was barely heard by Remilia.

"It's going to be okay, Flandre. Elder sister is here to help you get better." Remilia assured as she continued to stoke Flandre's hair.

Sakuya made her way into the bedroom with the sick Meiling over her shoulder. She sat Meiling down and leaned her back up against the wall.

Meiling looked as if she was about to cry. "I'm so sorry, Miss Sakuya. It's all my fault this happened. I was just so thirsty… I didn't know those chocolates were yours. I wouldn't have let Flandre out if I knew they were yours. Please don't punish me." She pleaded before breaking down into tears.

"Meiling, you're not making any sense. Please calm down." Sakuya pleaded.

"Sakuya, get away from her." Remilia said as she laid Flandre back down then got off the bed, but not before placing a kiss on Flandre's forehead and pushing her eyelids closed. "It's quite obvious that this sickness is infectious."

"If it is we're probably already screwed." Marisa said.

"But how could it have spread so quickly? We were not gone for that long. Even the symptoms are developing at such a dreadful rate." Sakuya said as she cleaned Meiling's crying face with a handkerchief.

"I don't even think that spider youkai could make a disease that could do this. This is one terrible incident." Marisa said.

Remilia thought to herself for a moment. She looked back at Flandre then over to her gate-guard, Meiling. "_This sickness is paralyzing my entire home and harming those under my care… What kind of disease is this? Where did it come from? Is it even a disease…?"_ She thought as dark and terrible thoughts began to flood her mind.


	4. Chapter 4 A Dark Presence

Remilia paced around Flandre's room as she thought to herself while Sakuya was aiding Meiling. Marisa was sitting on a nearby desk with her hat on her lap as she too pondered to herself. After a short time of silence, Marisa hopped off the desk then grabbed her broom.

"I'm gonna go get Reimu. It might be some kind of spirit that's causing them to be sick. She might be able to just exorcise them or something." Marisa said as she placed her hat on her head then went to leave the room.

"Hold it. You are not going anywhere." Remilia said.

"Eh? You got something else in mind, da ze?" Marisa asked.

"You cannot leave, Miss Marisa. Just as you said before, we could already be infected." Sakuya said as she laid a wet washcloth on the forehead of the now sleeping Meiling. "If we leave we might end up spreading the disease to others outside the mansion. We could end up causing an epidemic."

"Very good, Sakuya. We cannot let anyone leave the mansion until we figure out what is causing this illness." Remilia said.

"How do we figure that out then?" Marisa asked.

"How do you think? We ask the only one that could find out that is still in this mansion." Remilia said.

Marisa snapped her fingers. "Ah, Patchy. Hopefully she's fine. Not sure if that body of hers could handle this kind of sickness, ze." She said.

"Sakuya." Remilia said.

"Yes, milady?" Sakuya answered.

"Gather what fairies that have not succumbed to the sickness then gather all those who are sick and isolate them. After that, I will need you to stand guard of the mansion. No one enters. No one leaves." Remilia said.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya said. She picked up the sleeping Meiling then made her way upstairs.

Marisa stretched her arms into the air before putting them back down at her sides. "Well I was hoping for an incident to happen. They aren't kidding when they say 'be careful what you wish for'." She said.

"I could have told you that. Now let us go see Patchouli. And don't touch anything." Remilia said.

"Don't be silly. I'll take a few books for helping afterwards." Marisa said while giving Remilia a thumbs up.

"Alright. Enough talk. Let us-" Remilia spoke, but was interrupted by a sudden scream that came from somewhere above. She and Marisa both looked up towards the source of the scream.

"The hell was that?" Marisa asked. She and Remilia then looked at one another, concern present on their faces.

Both Remilia and Marisa sprinted out of Flandre's room then up the cold, stone stairs and back up to the first floor of the mansion. The second they entered the corridor more screams were heard. They ran to the main hallway, stopping when they found Sakuya defending a group of frightened fairy maids that were huddled behind her with the unconscious Meiling against what appeared to be a group of sick fairies.

Sakuya stood with a knife ready in her hand. She held a troubled expression from the sight of the sick fairies. "What the… What the hell happened to them?" She asked.

"Sakuya, what is going on?" Remilia said, gaining the maid's attention.

"Mistress! There's something horrible wrong with these ones!" Sakuya exclaimed.

Alerted to Remilia's and Marisa's presence, a few of the sick fairies turned around to face them, exposing their sickening appearance. The skin of the sick fairies was devoid of any color and appeared silky. More horribly was their faces, or what was left of them. Their eyes were either gone or covered up by their own skin that looked more like the surface of a cocoon. Their mouths remained visible, but when they suddenly smiled, a row of long, blade-like teeth that were coated in blood could be seen. Marisa gasped from the site while Remilia resisted the urge to look away from the deformed fairies in disgust.

"Yup. This is one messed up disease, da ze." Marisa said. Gritting her teeth, she took her broom and pointed the tip of it at the group of deformed fairies.

The second one of the fairies made a sudden movement towards Marisa, a blue blast of magic fired from her broom, hitting the fairy in the chest and knocking her back into a wall. Two of the deformed fairies charged towards her, letting out a shriveling shriek as they moved with an abnormal speed. Like the first fairy, both took a magic bullet to the chest that sent them into the wall and then to the floor.

One of the deformed fairies that were encroaching on Sakuya leaped into the air towards her with her claws ready. The fairy aimed for Sakuya's throat, but she was stopped when the maid grabbed her arm, swung her around then threw her back into the other deformed fairies, knocking them over.

Two of the deformed fairies quickly got back up onto their feet then sprinted towards Sakuya. Sakuya tossed two knives one after the other. The knives flew passed a leg of the two fairies, slicing the skin and drawing blood, but the fairies appeared unaffected and continued their charge. She pulled out two more knives and went to throw them, but the two fairies were suddenly blown away by a single red energy blast. Sakuya turned to face Remilia who stood with an outstretched arm and with smoke rising from the palm of her hand.

"Thank you, mistress." Sakuya said.

"Don't thank me yet." Remilia said.

Sakuya looked confused at first, but then noticed the fairies Remilia had just blasted were slowly getting back up off the ground as were the ones Marisa had shot. Letting out a low, grumbling hiss, the deformed fairies got back up onto their feet and sneered.

"Ah, shit. Don't tell me we gonna need to put them down for good." Marisa said with a troubled expression.

"If we must do so then we shall. Best to put them down then let them walk around in such a painful form." Remilia said.

Marisa gave an uneasy nod. "Yeah… Guess you're right." She said. She pulled out her mini-hakkero, an octagonal block of wood, and then took aim at the disfigured fairies. "I'd much rather just beat on the fairies, but a witch has gotta do what a witch has gotta do." She said as her mini-hakkero began to glow a light blue. "Maaasteeer Spaaaarrrrk!" She bellowed. A beam of radiant, flashing colors was unleashed from the block of wood that thundered across the air. The snarling fairies mindlessly charged forward, only to be struck by the beam and being blasted through a wall. The beam ended as quickly as it appeared. Marisa held the smoking block up to her mouth then blew the smoke away before placing it back in her pocket. "Back to nature with those ones, but I'm sure we'll be seeing more like those."

"Yes. Let us quickly get to the library. We need to put an end to this illness before more of my fairy maids turn into those things." Remilia said then quickly made her way down the hallway with Marisa right behind her.

After a short run through the halls of the mansion and dispatching a few fairies-turned-monsters, Remilia and Marisa ran down a flight of stairs and stopped in front of a large set of doors that had markings running up and down them. Remilia went to open the doors, but the moment her hand came with an inch of it, a green electric spark zapped her.

"Youch!" Remilia exclaimed as she yanked her injured hand back.

"Your maid did say that Patchy had magically sealed the doors, y'know." Marisa said.

"Yes… Yes I remember that now." Remilia said as she scowled at the grinning Marisa.

"Yo, Patchouli! Let us in! We have an emergency, da ze!" Marisa shouted.

"The doors are sound proof, you idiot. You should know that by now." Remilia said.

"Doesn't hurt to try." Marisa said.

Remilia let out a sigh. "Damn it. Of all the times to be working on some magical experiment it had to be during an incident that is taking place in my very own mansion."

"Don't suppose that her experiment has anything to do with the sickness, do ya?"

"I do not think so. Half of the reason why she seals the library up during her experiments is in the case of something going wrong it will stay right inside the library and not affect the rest of the mansion. Though I will not toss out the possibility."

"And what would be the other half of the reason?"

"Keeping idiots like you from interfering."

"Aww, that's mean, ze." Marisa said with a hurt expression. "Remember it was her that invited me to participate in the experiment."

"Did she say what the nature of the experiment was?"

"Nah. She just told me to come as I was and for Alice to bring that book of hers. She made it a strong point that Alice had to bring her book too. I wonder why? She knows Alice doesn't let anyone read it."

"Well whatever. We just need to figure out a way to open these doors. If only she would leave a way for us to communicate with her. Damn girl…" Remilia said then began thinking to herself.

Marisa walked up to the doors and began studying it, at the same time being careful not to get too close to it. "Hmm… This is a strange seal…"

Remilia came out of her thoughts and raised an eyebrow. "Strange? How so?"

"Well you see… It is usually pretty easy to tell what elements are being used in a spell. I can't for the life of me tell what elements were used in the making of this seal."

"She probably placed another spell on it to obscure it so it wouldn't be easy for a certain thief to undo the seal."

"That's what I thought also, but I don't feel a second spell of any kind. The only spell present on this door is the seal itself. No other enchantment in present."

"Are you sure? Patchouli is a great mage. She must have been able to keep the enchantments hidden."

"No way. Not from me, ze." Marisa proudly said. "Remember that I work and study with her from time to time and read the same books she reads. I know her style. I would be able to spot out one of her hidden enchantments easily and besides… Why would she go to such extra lengths to keep people out when the only ones who could probably get inside are the ones she invited in the first place?"

Remilia gazed at the door with a perplexed expression. "What could she possibly be doing in there then?"

"Hmm…" Marisa went into deep thought. After a short moment, she snapped her fingers when she got an idea. "Maybe she's trying to keep something inside and doesn't want it breaking out."

Remilia gave Marisa a worried look then turned back to face the doors with an angry expression. "Damn it! She has one of those otherworldly creatures in there, doesn't she?" She shouted in anger. A glowing red aura suddenly enveloped her. A part of the aura took the shape of a large spear in her hand which she used to start pounding at the doors with. With each strike of her spear, red and green sparks were created. "What did I tell you about keeping one those things, Patchouli?" She yelled.

Marisa watched casually as Remilia wildly smashed at the doors with her spear. "You're just going to tire yourself out doing that. A Master Spark wouldn't even work. You're gonna need to apply a lot of magical power to it directly in order to break it and when I mean a lot I mean a LOT, ze."

Remilia stopped her random attacks on the door and dispersed her spear then turned to face Marisa. "Could we cause enough of a surge in it to get Patchouli's attention at least?"

"I think so, but you know how she is. If her face is deep in a book then even the screech of a wicked spirit may go unheard by her."

"Well let us try it. We are not getting anywhere just standing her staring at the doors."

"Okay."

Remilia and Marisa both placed themselves directly in front of the door. They each held out their right arm with the palm of their hands only a few inches away from the doors. As they began to concentrate, an aura of dark red began forming around Remilia while an aura of light blue appeared around Marisa. They focused their magical power through the palm of their hands and into the doors. Sparks of their magic fired from their palms and towards the doors, but the sparks were counteracted by green sparks from the seal on the doors. As the seal fought back their magic, they increased their magical output, causing larger, more wild sparks of magic.

"Okay. On three we give it one big jolt of power." Marisa said.

"Alright." Remilia replied.

"One."

"Two."

"Three, da ze!"

On Marisa's command, she and Remilia each sent a large burst of magic into the door. Their magic rippled a crossed it, slightly distorting the space around it.

Marisa formed a smile. "I think that did it." She said. Her smile vanished when green sparks began to dance around the door. "Uhm..."

Suddenly, a bolt of green lightning flung out from the door, striking Remilia in the arm and blowing it to bits. Another bolt of lightning launched towards Marisa, nearly hitting her arm and only grazing her shoulder when she quickly dodged out of the way.

"Ooowww! That hurt!" Marisa cried out as she held her burnt shoulder. Smoke rose from the burnt flesh and cloth.

Remilia stood seemingly unfazed as her arm quickly reformed. "That better had worked. I do not want to have to have my arm blown off over and over again just to get that girl's attention." She said.

"Yeah me too." Marisa said as she blew at her burnt shoulder.

After a few moments of waiting, the doors began to slowly open. Once they were opened all the way, a girl with long, red hair and wearing a black dress appeared standing in the doorway.

"Well it is about time, Familiar of Patchouli." Remilia said.

Koakuma placed a hand over her chest then let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the dark lord…" She said.

"Well someone looks happy to see me for once, da ze." Marisa said with a happy expression.

"Lady Remilia, I'm so glad you came." Koakuma said.

"If you were in need of me then why did you not come find me?" Remilia asked.

"I uh… Um…" Koakuma said in a nervous manner. She looked behind her then back at Remilia.

"Wassup, Koakuma? Don't tell us Patchy caught one of those things again." Marisa said.

"That better not be the case. Even if you are her servant you should not allow her to do something that I had strictly forbidden." Remilia said.

Koakuma shook her head. "No, Lady Remilia, she has not. It's something else…" She said.

"Well? What is it then?" Remilia asked.

"P-Please just follow me." Koakuma said then quickly returned to the library.

Remilia and Marisa looked at one another with a confused expression on their faces before entering the library. As they entered, they both winced as a sudden abnormal sensation ran throughout their body.

"Do you feel that?" Marisa asked.

"Yes…" Remilia answered.

They both walked down between long rows of bookcases. They stopped when they made it to the center of the library where Koakuma stood waiting. In the center of the library was a bunch of tables of different sizes. Piles of books rested on the tops of most of them. At a circular table sat a girl with long, purple hair wearing purple pajama-like clothing and night-cap. In her hand was an open book which she was engrossed in. Koakuma coughed into her hand, pulling the girl's attention away from the book. The girl looked up and upon seeing Remilia and Marisa she smiled then stood up.

"Patchouli, wassup? If you're gonna seal away your library the least you can do is give us an easier way to get a hold of ya." Marisa said.

"Indeed. I do hope you are not doing anything in here that would upset me, Patchy. You remember what happened last time, right?" Remilia said.

Patchouli ran up to Marisa and, to Marisa's and Remilia's complete surprise, embraced her. Remilia's jaw dropped slightly while an empty expression appeared on Marisa's face. Remilia turned to Koakuma hoping for an explanation, but Koakuma said nothing and stared at the floor with a worried expression.

"What… the hell…?" Marisa said as Patchouli squeezed her. She then grabbed Patchouli by the shoulders and gently pushed her away. "Nice to see you too, ze?" She asked with a slightly disturbed look. She then noticed that Patchouli's purple eyes were giving off a sickly green glow.

"Marisa... Dear Marisa…" Patchouli said in a strange voice. Her normal voice was warped and sounded as if it was overshadowed by the distorted voice of a deep, male voice.

Marisa stared at Patchouli in bewilderment. "Um… You okay, Patchouli?" Marisa hesitantly asked.

Remilia turned to Koakuma. "What is going on here?" She asked.

"I… I don't…" Koakuma tried to answer as tears began to flow from her eyes.

Patchouli placed her hand on Marisa's cheek. "Why have you not heard my call? My, you are indeed a strange one." Patchouli said in her eerie voice. "Have you brought Alice with you?"

"Uh, no. It's just me and Remilia." Marisa said.

Remilia walked up to Patchouli and pulled on her cloth. "Patchy, what is going on with you?" She asked.

Patchouli looked down at Remilia then smiled at her. "Oh, Remilia. Hello. Have you… come to read with me?" She asked.

"No, Patchy, I did not. We have an incident on our hands so I need you to stop with whatever experiment you are doing and help us. Flandre is very sick as well as the gate-guard and many of the fairy staff." Remilia said.

"That's not…" Koakuma spoke, but fell silent again.

"Hey Remilia… I don't think this is our bookworm." Marisa said.

Patchouli walked over to a table then pulled out a chair. "Come, Marisa. Surely you… Surely you have come to read with me? We can read to one another. Read wonderful, wonderful books. Read while we wait for Alice's arrival. Let us… Let us read." She said while still wearing a smile.

"Um, no thanks. I uh…" Marisa said nervously as she tried to avoid Patchouli's unnerving stare.

Remilia walked up to Koakuma. "What is going on here? What is this oddity that is supposed to be my best friend? Tell me." She demanded.

Koakuma wiped her eyes of tears with her hand. "I… I don't know, Lady Remilia. It all just happened suddenly…" She said as she continued to wipe the tears that flowed from her eyes.

"What happened, familiar? What is wrong with Patchouli?" Remilia asked in a demanding tone.

"She's been possessed by something. I don't know what, but…" Koakuma said then looked towards Patchouli. The second she made eye contact with her, she quickly turned away. "You have to help Lady Patchouli. That thing… she terrifies me." She said.

"What is this strange magic I am feeling? What has she been doing?" Remilia asked.

"I feel it too, but I don't know what it is. All she... No, It. All it does is read books. Horrible… horrible books I never knew we had." Koakuma said as she nearly broke down into more tears.

Marisa walked over to the two, trying to ignore the strange stare Patchouli was giving her. "This is seriously creeping me out." She said in a lowered voice. "How long has she been like this, Koakuma?"

"I noticed her weird behavior when she placed a seal on the doors a couple days ago." Koakuma answered.

"Whatever it is that is controlling her must have something to do with the sickness that is plaguing the mansion." Remilia said.

"Why don't you go ask her?" Marisa asked.

The three girls turned around to see that Patchouli was watching them. Her smile remained and she seemingly still waited for Marisa to take a seat in the chair. Her odd focus on Marisa did not break even when Remilia walked up to her, only after she spoke.

"You… Who are you and what have you done with Patchouli?" Remilia asked.

"Oh… Hello, Remilia. Care to join us? Please… Have a seat." The possessed Patchouli said as she patted the chair.

"I will ask you one more time. Who are you and what have you done with Patchouli?" Remilia asked in a more angered tone.

An eerie grin formed on Patchouli's face. "Do not worry about this child. She is… She is well." She said.

"Who are you? Are you the one who caused the plague that has infected my mansion?" Remilia asked.

"Plague?" Patchouli looked confused for a moment before her strange grin returned. "Oh… That… I am not. That would be the other one. It is such a bother… Could you… Could you perhaps do me a favor and dispose of it for me?" She asked.

A disturbed expression formed on Remilia's face. "_Another one? Another what?" _She thought. "If you are not the cause of the sickness then why are you here?"

"Oh? I am simply waiting." Patchouli said.

"Waiting for what?" Remilia asked.

The grin on Patchouli's face grew larger and more freakish. "For Alice, of course." She said. Remilia then suddenly leaped up, grabbed her by the neck and pulled her down to her level.

"No, Lady Remilia, please don't! That's still Lady Patchouli's body! Don't hurt her any more than she has been!" Koakuma begged.

"Who are you? Answer me right now!" Remilia shouted in Patchouli's face.

"Who I am is of no importance to you, Remilia Scarlet." Patchouli said while still holding her creepy grin.

"I decide what is and what is not important in this house, fiend. Now answer me before I rip you to pieces." Remilia sneered.

"Please do not hurt… do not hurt this host. She is a good host." The possessed Patchouli said. Her eyes then slowly moved to Koakuma who, with tearful eyes, stared back with disdain. "I do not want to use another one. Seeing this one squirm is… is so delightful." She said with a shiver.

Remilia shoved Patchouli away, nearly causing her to fall backwards to the floor. "You can sit here and wait all you want. Until I have solved my other problem first that is…" Remilia said then turned and headed for the exit.

"What? We just going to leave her?" Marisa asked Remilia as she started following her.

"We have no choice. Whatever it is that is controlling Patchy will have to be dealt with later. We have to find out what is causing the sickness first before it has a chance to spread beyond my mansion's walls and causing even more problems for us." Remilia said then stopped to face Koakuma. "Koakuma, I will need you to stay here and watch over Patchouli and that… thing."

Koakuma put on a stern expression and nodded. "Of course, Lady Remilia. I wasn't going anywhere anyways. I must remain at Patchouli's side no matter what." She said.

Remilia nodded. "Good." She said.

"But please, Lady Remilia, be quick. I can't stand seeing Lady Patchouli used like a puppet like this." Koakuma said.

"Neither can I. I do not know what this thing is doing possessing our bookworm, but as far as I can tell it does not seem to be hostile. At least not now. We will search for whatever this 'other one' is quickly and end this plague then get Reimu to help with ridding Patchouli of whatever it is that is controlling her." Remilia said.

"Yes, Lady Remilia." Koakuma said. "I will do what I can to learn more of this thing's intentions."

"Good." Remilia said.

Patchouli walked up to Marisa, startling her. "Jeez, don't do that!" Marisa exclaimed. Patchouli grabbed her hand then placed a book in it. She looked at the book with confusion then at Patchouli. "Yup. You're possessed alright."

"If… If you are going then please… take that with you and… enjoy." Patchouli said with a smile. "Oh and please… Bring Alice with you next time and make sure she brings… that book. I would very much like to read it. Together… just the four of us…" She turned around then headed back to the table and returned to reading.

Marisa stood dumbfounded. "This is all flavors of messed up, da ze." She commented then faced Remilia. "You sure we can trust that thing won't do anything bad?"

"No, but again we have no choice. We need to tackle one incident at a time. Now let us go." Remilia said with Marisa replying with a nod. "I am beginning to dread what could be behind the sickness and the possession of Patchouli…"


	5. Chapter 5 Hidden Terror

Remilia and Marisa left the library more confused and bothered than before. More questions flooded their minds as they walked down a hallway on their way to the dining room.

Marisa studied the book that the possessed Patchouli had given her before losing interest in it. "I don't know if we can believe it, ze. The disease and then that thing possessing Patchy come at a suspiciously similar time. We should go back there and just pummel it until it let's go of her." She suggested.

Remilia shook her head in disagreement. "That won't work. Whatever it is must be powerful in its own right in order to be able to control her. It has her hostage. I just do not see the reason why it would bother to lie and pass the blame. It knows we won't do anything rash and risk harming Patchouli trying to force it out." She said. "For whatever reason, it wants to see that puppeteer and her book. Diseasing everyone in the mansion would be a bit counterintuitive in getting her to show up with it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Marisa agreed with a shrug. "Still… Having two bad guys show up at the same time in the same place with different goals bothers me. What would the one behind the illness possibly wish to accomplish by making everyone sick?"

"I do not know. We will need to find the person responsible and ask them personally in order to find out the answer to that question." Remilia said.

They entered the dining room then sat at the large table, resting their elbows on the table top and their chins on the palm of their hands. They pondered to themselves in silence as they tried to formulate a plan of some kind. The silence ended when Sakuya trotted in with a bucket of blood tainted water. She roughly sat the bucket down on the floor, pulling Remilia and Marisa out of their thoughts.

"Oh, Sakuya. How are the sick?" Remilia asked.

Sakuya grabbed a towel from a nearby counter and wiped her dirty hands on it. "Several more of the fairy staff turned, but they were dealt with. I was able to administer some medicine to force the rest to sleep. I think they will be fine for now." She said.

"Good work, Sakuya." Remilia said then returned to thinking.

Sakuya walked over to Remilia with a bit of a worried expression on her face. "Milady? What did Lady Patchouli have to say?" She asked, though she did not expect a positive answer.

Remilia let out a troubling sigh. "Patchouli cannot help us. She's…" She said, but fell silent before she finished her statement.

"I am sorry to push, milady, but she is what?" Sakuya asked.

"She's being possessed by something, ze." Marisa answered for Remilia.

Sakuya blinked twice, having to repeat what Marisa said in her head. "Possessed? By what?" She asked.

"That we do not know." Remilia said.

"But how? To control a mage of Lady Patchouli's caliber should be-"

"Nearly impossible, yes." Remilia cut in on Sakuya. "Patchouli's body may be a bit delicate, but her mind is harder than steel and much more disciplined. It would require a being of much greater power to control her the way it was…"

"Hmm…" Marisa let out a low hum as she thought deeply. "What the hell could it be, da ze?"

Remilia stood up abruptly. "We will need to figure that out later. We need to find the cause of this illness now while that thing is not hostile. I refuse to let any more of my servants fall to the strange disease." She said in a stern tone.

Sakuya quickly scratched away an itch on her right arm before speaking. "Where do we begin, milady?" She asked.

"We do a sweep of the entire mansion. Check everywhere for anything out of the ordinary. Some kind of clue that could lead to how the illness might have gotten here in the first place. Marisa will start from the top. I from the bottom. Sakuya, you will search through all the hidden rooms and passageways. Once we are done we will meet up right back here to report our findings. Check thoroughly and with a keen eye." Remilia instructed.

"Yes, milady." Sakuya complied.

Marisa stood out of her seat then reached her arms up above her in a stretch. "Okay then. Let's do this." She said with enthusiasm.

Remilia glared at Marisa. "I am sure this is a forgone conclusion, but..." She walked up to Marisa, staring up into her eyes.

Now a bit nervous, Marisa forced a grin. "What's with that look, ze?" She asked, though already knowing.

"Keep control of your kleptomania, Miss Kirisame. If more of my things disappear from my mansion, you will disappear from Gensokyo. Understand?" Remilia threatened.

"Oh, come on! I would never take advantage during an incident like this!" Marisa loudly protested.

"You best not." Remilia warned then left the room.

Marisa turned to Sakuya. "Your master needs to be less paranoid." She insisted. Sakuya said nothing as she stared back at her with a deadpan expression, causing her to become a little irritated. "So what if I borrow a lot? Doesn't everyone?"

"Please try not to take anything, Miss Marisa." Sakuya said bluntly then left the room, holding in a chuckle as she did so.

Irritated, Marisa let out a small growl of frustration then left the room to begin her share of searching.

Marisa decided to start in one of the attics at one end of the mansion. She walked up a set of stone stairs then shoved open the door. She let herself in then instantly began scanning the dark room. Unable to pierce through the darkness, she pulled out a crystal-like stone then held it up. It began to shine, illuminating the attic and allowing Marisa to see dust covered boxes of different shapes and sizes as well as old furniture and other household items that were no longer in use. With a questionable grin, she ran over to a box. She wasted no time in opening it and searching through the contents.

"Won't hurt to do a little treasure hunting while I look for whatever it is that is causing that illness, da ze." Marisa said as she began scavenging through box after box. After searching several boxes, each with disappointing results, she checked one more box. "Come on, where's the money…" She said as she opened the box. She smiled upon seeing what rested in the box. "Score!" She happily exclaimed as she marveled at the plethora of dirty books that sat in the box. She pulled out a book, blew the dust off of it then opened it up. Her exited expression quickly turned into disappointment. "Aww, man. All the words are faded out." She placed the book back in the box then grabbed another one, only to once again be disappointed in the unreadable book. She checked all of the books then placed them back where they were. Strongly disappointed with her finds, she decided to stick with her main mission.

Just before Marisa went to continue her search, she remembered the book she had received from the possessed Patchouli. She took her hat off then pulled out a book with a gray cover. It was a plain, simple book and was unnamed. She brushed off the dust on top of one of the boxes with her broom then sat herself down on it.

"Kinda curious what this book is about." Marisa said as she opened the book to the first page. "Might give me an idea on what it is that's possessing Patchy."

Marisa began reading the first paragraph. She instantly found herself hooked by its oddly phrased words. Only half way through the first paragraph and she began to become pale faced. Soon her expression distorted as she became uncomfortable at a rapid rate. Her stomach felt as if it was twisting and flipping upside down within her. She wanted to stop reading, but the words had taken hold of her eyes, keeping them fixed upon them as they seemed to read themselves in her mind. Just when she nearly finished the paragraph, she suddenly felt an intense urge to vomit. She dropped the book as she hunched over then cupped her mouth when she began to cough violently. A stabbing pain had stuck her stomach and it continued to throb in pain as the words from the book remained visible in her mind. She fell to her knees as she prepared herself to vomit, but it never came. After a short while the pain faded away. She drew exasperated breaths as she rose back to her feet. She then looked down at the book that had caused her to become sick with its words with an expression of intense anger and disgust.

"What the fuck?" Marisa muttered as her fists shook at her sides. "Who the fuck would read something like that?" She shouted then out of her anger kicked the book across the attic where it landed open. She then pulled out a glass vial with a blue-colored potion from her dress pocket. "By fire be purged!" She lobbed the vial towards the book. The second it hit the hard floor beside the book, it erupted into a small explosion of magical blue fire. She watched the book burn away into ash before letting out a sigh of relief, her anger quickly fading with the book.

"Let's… Let's just forget I ever even read that, ze." Marisa told herself then continued on with her search.

As Marisa searched her area, Sakuya was exploring through hidden passageways and using her powers to search areas that were inaccessible by normal means. She walked down a hallway and checked all the rooms that were connected to it, the rooms mostly being bedrooms or small study rooms. She continued down the hallway then checked another room, but found that it was the exact room she had inspected last. She left the room then looked down the hallway. Going any further was pointless as the space in the hallway was distorted and caused the hallway to loop, making it lead to the same set of rooms over and over again. With the simple flick of her wrist, she used her powers to manipulate time and space, allowing her to continue down the hallway. She made it to the end of the hallway where a single door was present. She reached her hand out towards the door knob and grabbed a hold of it. She stopped to scratch at an annoying itch on her arm for a moment before turning the knob and opening the door. To her surprise, the door led outside. She found herself staring out into the front courtyard of the mansion where a bit of snow was falling from the sky. She was now standing at the front doors in the main hallway of the mansion after being forcefully teleported.

A small chuckle escaped Sakuya's lips. "Oops. Forgot only milady may freely enter that room. I need explicit permission from her in order to enter it." She said to herself then closed the front doors before returning to her search.

Meanwhile, Remilia was searching through her dungeons. After searching for any oddities and killing a prisoner who was foolish enough to reach out from his prison and grab her, she went to Flandre's bedroom and began searching there. She checked everywhere, but to her frustration, found nothing out of the ordinary. She even decided to check under Flandre's bed and once again found nothing, only a few broken toys and torn stuffed animals. She fumed a little as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"I just don't know where else to look… or what to even look for exactly…" Remilia said. She bit her lip as she thought of other places to look. She was then brought out of her thoughts when she heard a murmur coming from Flandre. She crawled over the bed and over to Flandre who laid on her side sleeping. "Flandre?" She placed her hand on her shoulder. "_Even if she is ill because of a magical disease, she is still a vampire and can resist it much better than the fairies, but I still can't stand seeing her like this." _She thought. "_My dear sister…"_She leaned over and kissed Flandre on the cheek.

"Remi…" Flandre murmured in her sleep.

Remilia giggled. "Still have time to dream about me even when you are ill, Flan?" She asked softly. Her vampiric instincts tempted her to do perverted things to her defenseless sister and companion in immortality, to show her undying love and affection for her, but she kept her desires in check and at bay. She felt a little shame for thinking of doing such things to her sister when she was so defenseless, but it was that very defenselessness that turned her on.

"Remi… I can hear him…" Flandre murmured.

A curious expression appeared on Remilia's face. "Hmm? Hear who, Flan?" She asked.

"I can hear him… Can't you?"

"Flan. Flan what are you talking about? Hear who?" Remilia slightly shook Flandre, but heard nothing else from her but her faint breathing. She shrugged her shoulders. "Probably because she is sick…" She told herself. She placed another kiss on Flandre's cheek before getting off the bed and heading back upstairs.

Remilia returned to the dining room where Sakuya and Marisa both waited. She could already tell that their search did not bear fruit going by the expressions on their faces.

"Well, Marisa. What did you find?" Remilia asked.

Marisa shook her head. "Nadda. I found nothing at all, ze." She said then glared over at Sakuya. "Oh, and your maid has already frisked me so don't accuse me of stealing anything."

"It is true, milady." Sakuya confirmed with a smile.

"Did you come across anything, Sakuya?" Remilia asked.

"I am afraid not, milady." Sakuya answered sadly.

Remilia crossed her arms in front of her, almost in a pout. "Damn it. Is there anywhere we might not have checked?" She asked.

"The only room I did not check was the room at the end of the hallway on the third floor in the north wing of the mansion." Sakuya said.

Remilia winced at the mentioning of the room then let out a sigh. "Oh that's right… Well we need to be thorough so let us go and check it." She said in a seemingly bored way then led the way.

Marisa slightly tilted her head as a confused look appeared on her face. "Huh? What room?" She asked then followed behind Remilia and Sakuya.

After a short walk up to the third floor of the mansion, Remilia, Sakuya and Marisa stood at the door at the end of the hallway.

Marisa walked up to the door then began to study it. Unimpressed, she turned to face Remilia. "Why don't I remember coming across this door before?" She asked.

"I warped the space on this hallway with my power, Miss Marisa, so no one could just casually come across it." Sakuya answered.

"Huh? But why? What's so special about this room?" Marisa asked.

Remilia walked up to the door then grabbed the door handle. When her hand touched the door knob, it glowed a faint red for a second. She opened the door then entered the room that laid behind it. Sakuya entered second followed by Marisa. The room was pitch black, but with the snap of Remilia's fingers, a number of candles were suddenly lit, banishing the darkness. The room itself was small and not very easy to move around in with all the stuff lying around. It appeared to be some kind of room for study with a desk sitting in the middle and another desk up against one of the walls. The desk in the middle had a globe of Earth sitting on it as well as a container of ink with a silver nib lying next to it. The other desk had a bunch of books sitting neatly on it. A cabinet with glass doors sat up against the wall opposite of the second desk. The cabinet was filled with many different kinds of artifacts made from peoples of all kinds of cultures. Larger artifacts sat around the cabinet.

Marisa looked around with an astonished expression. "Whoa! I didn't know you were a collector of this kind of stuff, Remilia. That's pretty cool." She said.

"These are not mine." Remilia stated as she and Sakuya looked around the room.

Marisa looked puzzled. "They're not? Then whose are they?" She asked, but got no answer. She shrugged her shoulders then decided to look at some of the books on the desk next to the wall. She grabbed a book then opened it, only to find a language she was unfamiliar with. She turned to Remilia who was looking behind a large totem-like artifact. "Yo, Remilia. What language is this?" She asked.

Remilia ceased her searching for a moment to see what book Marisa was holding before quickly returning to her search. "It's an old Turkish language now put it down and help us search." Remilia demanded.

"Turkish, huh? Can you read it?" Marisa asked.

"Miss Marisa, please worry about the task at hand." Sakuya insisted.

"Oh, fine…" With a hurt expression, Marisa sat the book down where she got it. She went to help search the room but stopped when she noticed a large picture frame hanging up on the wall above the desk she was at. The picture itself was hidden behind a purple cloth. Driven by her curiosity, she reached out to pull the cloth down, but was stopped when Sakuya grabbed her hand. "Hey, what gives?" She asked as she gave Sakuya a bitter look. Sakuya looked at her intently and slowly shook her head before letting her go, leaving Marisa confused. She shrugged her shoulders then leaned up against the desk. "There's a lot of cool stuff in here. If this isn't yours then whose is it? Come on, tell me." She urged Remilia.

"Miss Marisa, please do not probe." Sakuya said.

"This is my father's old study room. Everything here is his. Now stop asking stupid questions and start looking." Remilia said in an annoyed tone.

A rather shocked expression fell upon Marisa's face. "Oh…" She said. She then grinned. "Well isn't this cool. I'm in the same room your dad use to use. I feel kinda honored, da ze."

"You better be." Remilia said.

"I am! I'm thankful you let me in here. Really I am. I don't think you even let Reimu in here before, have ya?" Marisa asked.

"You are the second human to step foot in here." Remilia said.

Marisa became more surprised. She then turned to Sakuya. "And you would be the first?" She asked. Sakuya answered her with a nod. "Wow…" She relaxed against the desk as she waited for Remilia and Sakuya to finish up with the searching. She looked down at the desk then spotted a drawer. With her curiosity getting the best of her once again, she casually opened it. Her content expression faded when she saw what was lying inside the drawer. A sense of dread ran up her spine, and she hesitated to touch the circular object. She grabbed a chain then lifted what appeared to be some kind of medallion out of the drawer. She held it out in front of her and gazed upon the metallic object. "Is this…"

Remilia and Sakuya stopped what they were doing to see what Marisa was holding. Remilia gritted her teeth as her annoyance with Marisa began to turn into anger. "For goodness sake, Marisa, can you not keep your hands off of other peoples' things for five seconds?" She asked in a raised voice.

"Hey now… This isn't yours… or your dad's." Marisa said as she continued to stare at the medallion and the strange symbol that appeared on the front of it. Her hand that held the chain went strangely numb. "I mean… this is the same one, right?" She hesitated to ask.

Increasingly irritated by Marisa's constant questions, Remilia let out a sigh. "Yes… That is the Yellow Sign Medallion. It was the medallion Max was wearing when he appeared." She said.

Marisa became excited and terrified at the same time. "Holy shit! I thought that gap hag took it from you after that whole shebang, da ze." She said.

"She did, but she then returned it to me." Remilia said.

"She did? Why? She was pretty damn set on taking it from you and getting rid of it, ze." Marisa said.

"I do not know why she had a sudden change of heart, but it does not matter. It is just an ordinary medallion now." Remilia said.

"Yeah I guess…" Marisa continued to observe the medallion for a moment. A glum expression then appeared on her face. "Poor guy… I remember when I first met him at Rinnosuke's shop. First thing I noticed was this medallion around his neck." She grinned as her cheeks turned a little red. "Oh, and that nice looking chest of his, da ze." She added with a chuckle.

"Indeed. He was quite blessed in his physical appearance." Remilia said as past memories came to her. She then turned away from Marisa and Sakuya when she became red faced in embarrassment from remembering her erotic dream from before.

"Yes, but…" Sakuya said, but looking a bit disgruntled from her own memories of the young man. "His personality left something to be desired."

"W-Well anyways, let us leave. There is nothing here." Remilia stuttered slightly as she tried to suppress her embarrassment. She quickly got back into her noble composure then headed for the door.

"Are you sure you should be keeping this here? It is devoid of any of that freaky power Max had, but didn't this thing really belong to that… that extra-dimensional god?" Marisa asked. She shivered as the image of a dark figure in yellow tatters flashed in her mind.

"He is gone now. Max made sure of that. We need to worry about the present, not the past. Now let us go." Remilia insisted then left the room with Sakuya behind her.

Marisa quickly placed the medallion back in the drawer then closed it. She unconsciously wiped her hand on her dress. "Hey, wait up!" She called out as she raced out of the room.

Remilia, Sakuya and Marisa arrived back at the dining room, lost on what to do next. Remilia sat in a chair while Sakuya stood idly by. Marisa sat her hat on the table before heading into the kitchen then into the pantry. She returned to the dining room with some snacks in her hands. She sat them on the table before seating herself on a chair, eating away at her snack.

Sakuya let out a sigh, displeased with Marisa's lack of manners. "Please do not just help yourself, Miss Marisa. At least ask first." She said.

"I can't think when my tummy is a rumbling and I brought some out for you guys also. Get some energy in ya, ze." Marisa said with a mouth full of chewed up crackers.

"And do not talk with your mouth full." Sakuya demanded, now slightly annoyed and disgusted.

"Let her choke if she wants to." Remilia said to Sakuya. She stared at the top of the table, the tips of her finger nails tapping the top of it like a drum in rhythm as she thought to herself. Feeling a small grumble in her stomach, she reached out for the pile of snacks and grabbed one then quickly ate it.

Marisa gulped down her last few crackers. "Alright, look …" She said with a sigh of discontent. "I'm sure you're suspecting it too so I'll just be the one to come out with it and ask… What if this disease is alien in origin? And when I mean alien I don't mean the moon… I mean way beyond there kind of alien." She said. Both Remilia and Sakuya looked bothered from her suggestion, having already thought the same thing as she has. "I mean I get the exact same kind of vibe about this disease and that weird magic in the library I did when those… well you know, 'things' showed up. That can't be just a coincidence, can it?"

Reluctant, Remilia nodded. "I have suspected it. Was just hoping it was me being paranoid, but alas it seems like the possibility is more real than I would like." She said.

"If it is true, this could be an incident that rivals the last one involving those kinds of monsters in seriousness and danger." Sakuya said.

"Indeed." Remilia said.

"Think one of us should take the risk and get Reimu to lend us a hand?" Marisa asked.

"I don't like it, but we might just have to. The source may have not originated from inside the mansion anyways. No way of telling that without outside help." Remilia said. "Sakuya." She said as she turned to face Sakuya, coming to the attention that she was scratching furiously at one of her arms. Worried, she slowly rose from her chair. "Sakuya? What is the matter?"

Beads of sweat ran down Sakuya's face as she continued to scratch at her left arm. "I… I don't know. This weird itch keeps appearing. At first it was just my right arm, but now I feel it in my left as well." She said with a strained look.

"Uh-Oh…" Marisa said.

Remilia gritted her teeth in anger. "Damn it. Now my maid has…" Not finishing her sentence, she turned to Marisa. "How do you feel? Do you feel weird at all?" She asked, catching Marisa slightly off guard with the questions.

"Huh? Well I feel like I need to pee, but other than that I feel fine, ze." Marisa said.

"You may have not been infected if you haven't developed any kind of strange symptoms yet. You are a fast flyer so go and find Reimu as quick as you can. Try not to get near anyone just in case if you can help it." Remilia ordered.

Marisa got out of her seat, grabbed her hat then placed it back on her head then formed her cocky grin. "You damn right I'm the fastest, vampire. I'll go drag that girl here kicking and screaming before your maid vomits her guts out." She declared.

"Please do not say that…" Sakuya said as her face became pale from the thought of vomiting.

"Go! Now!" Remilia shouted at Marisa.

"Alright alright!" Marisa exclaimed. She sat herself on her floating broom then prepared to take off out of the dining room then out of the mansion. "I shall retur-"

Before Marisa could finish her sentence, the entire room suddenly started to shake, nearly knocking Remilia and Sakuya off of their feet. Glass plates and other kitchenware could be heard falling from their places and to the floor in the kitchen. Cabinets rattled and the stone walls cracked in places. The sudden quake lasted for only a few seconds, leaving the girls stunned and confused.

"Or not…" Marisa said as she hopped off her broom then tossed it up onto her shoulder.

"Wha-What on Earth was that?" Sakuya asked, still feeling the quake in her legs.

Remilia let out a disgruntled groan. "What now…?" She moaned.

Suddenly, a lone fairy maid sprinted into the dining room. Sweat and tears covered her face and splatters of blood soaked her apron. She collapsed to her knees in exhaustion.

The fairy managed to gain enough air in her lungs to shout. "Chief!"

"Wassup with you, little one?" Marisa asked.

Sakuya quickly helped the fairy back up to her feet. "What is wrong? Tell me quickly." She demanded.

The fairy maid quickly caught her breath then spoke. "The sick… They… They suddenly woke up. They woke up and then they… they…" The fairy began to shiver in fear, not wanting to continue speaking of what had happened.

Sakuya shook the fairy maid by the shoulders. "Speak, girl. What happened to the sick?" She asked in a demanding tone.

"Uhm… They turned into those… those things then…" Tears began to run down her face. She was shook by Sakuya again when she fell silent for too long. "They attacked those who were watching over them then left as a group."

"Where were they headed? Speak." Remilia said.

The fairy snorted. "I-I don't know… I ran here as soon as they left…" She said with her head hung low.

"You know, I'm almost positive that quake came from below. Perhaps down there somewhere, ze?" Marisa suggested. Remilia sprinted out of the room. "Whoa! Wait for us!"

Sakuya and Marisa quickly ran to catch up to Remilia, leaving the lone fairy behind. "Mistress, where are we going?" Sakuya asked.

"We find those turned fairies then follow them. If they have a destination then it might be where who or whatever that caused the sickness is." Remilia said. She looked straight ahead as she continued to sprint down the hallway, determination in her expression. "Whatever it may be, we shall put an end to its existence right here and now before it can cause any more harm to my family and servants."


	6. Chapter 6 The Brood of Eihort

Walking down a set of cold, gray stone steps was a group of infected fairies. All were deformed and stripped of all of their will, shambling forward together. They walked in a lose group and some had a hunch as they walked and hissed randomly while the long, blade-like teeth of others chattered excessively. Their chattering teeth made a rather grim and ear ripping tune. As they made their way into the dark dungeons of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, those who dwelled within the cells were forced to cover their ears in a poor attempt to block out the painful noise of chattering teeth.

Following close behind and out of sight of the group of corrupted fairies were Remilia, Sakuya and Marisa. They made sure to keep their distance as they kept the fairies within sight in order not to alert them to their presence. They kept close to the stone wall, dodging behind a corner or into an empty cell whenever one of the fairies would look over their shoulder. They stood quietly around a corner when the fairies came to a dead end.

Marisa peered around the corner to observe the fairies. "The hell are they doing, ze?" She asked, making sure to keep her voice down. She was then roughly pulled back by Remilia.

"Don't stick your head out like that, you idiot." Remilia said in a hushed voice.

"I was just taking a peek to see what they were doing. No need to grab me like that, you know." Marisa said, now upset from the sudden and forceful pull.

"There is nowhere else for them to go. I need to see what they plan on doing and that cannot happen if you let them know we are here. So just stand there and keep your mouth shut." Remilia scoffed.

Marisa placed her hands on her hips in an apparent display of defiance then glared down at Remilia. "You know what? You've been pissy all day. I'm just here to help so why must you continue to be mean to me, da ze?" She asked.

Remilia let out a sigh. She knew she was taking her stress out on the wrong person, but she did not care at the moment. Not much at least. "Forgive me. With losing a treasured item, this sickness and now Patchouli's predicament, I've been a little on edge and have been letting my temper get ahead of me." She said apologetically.

Feeling a little better, Marisa formed a small smile. "I understand that. Kinda surprised that you're letting all of this get to you though. You're a noble vampire, ain't ya? Just think of this as just any other incident and take it in strides." She said.

"Humph…" Remilia shrugged her shoulders. She was a little bothered that Marisa, of all people, was giving her some advice on how to stay calm, but she did not throw out the suggestion. As much as she wanted to maintain a calm composure, a strange feeling made her anxious and continued to bother her even when she pushed the feeling into the back of her mind. She turned to speak to Sakuya, only to see that she was rubbing her back against the stone wall in quick, rough motion.

"Careful there, Sakuya. You're going to tear the skin right off your back." Marisa warned with a troubled look.

Regardless of what Marisa said, Sakuya continued to rub her back against the wall. She was rubbing against it so hard that her skin really did feel like it could rip at any moment, but that feeling was the best relief she could get from the obnoxious crawling sensation that covered her back. "I…I can't help it. The itchiness… it's spreading and getting worse. I want to just tear my skin right off." Sakuya said in a hoarse voice, being quite serious with what she said. Beads of sweat rolled down her increasingly white face.

Remilia's blood boiled as she helplessly watched her maid scratch maddeningly all over her body. "We are running out of time." She turned to face Marisa. "What are they doing now?" She asked.

Marisa did a quick peek around the corner, only to find that the fairies were no longer there. Now with a nervous expression, she turned to face Remilia. "Looks like they pulled a fast one and left while we weren't looking, ze." She said with forced chuckle.

Puzzled, Remilia ran around the corner then down the dark hall to where the fairies once stood. She looked around franticly for any traces of the fairies. "That's impossible. There is nowhere else they could have gone. They would have had to gone passed us to leave." She strongly insisted.

Marisa stood beside Remilia then gave a quick look around. She shook her head when she saw nothing but gray stone and the two metal doors of the empty cells to their right and left. "Did they teleport or something?" She asked. She decided to take a closer look around in one of the empty cells. She pushed the cell door open and walked in. She scanned the cold dark cell with her eyes, stopping when she saw a hole in the floor in the far corner of the cell. "Yo, Remilia. I found something." She called over her shoulder as she kept her eyes on the hole.

"What is it, Marisa?" Remilia asked as she entered the cell. Marisa pointed at the hole. They walked over to the hole and looked down into it. The circular hole itself was large enough for a person of medium size to crawl down into and the bottom was nowhere to be seen.

"Good job on your end of the search there, Remilia." Marisa joshed.

"This hole wasn't here before!" Remilia burst out angrily, making Marisa jump a little in surprise.

"Well, you think they made their way down there?" Marisa asked.

Remilia took a few deep breaths to calm down. "We will need to crawl down there and find out ourselves. I hate to get my dress ruined, but I am left with little choice." She said.

"Oh, boo hoo." Marisa mocked.

"Go get Sakuya." Remilia ordered, ignoring the taunt.

"I am here." Sakuya said as she entered the cell. Her movements were strained from the unrelenting itch that swarmed all over her. She tried desperately to ignore the sensation.

"You gonna be alright?" Marisa asked, but immediately thought it was a dumb question.

"I am fine, Miss Marisa. Thank you." Sakuya replied with a scratchy and not very convincing voice.

"Let us not waste any more time." Remilia said then quickly made her way down the dark hole.

Marisa looked towards Sakuya. "Ladies first." She said cheerfully. Sakuya nodded then started her decent into the unknown depths with Marisa following behind her.

* * *

After the climb down the dark hole, Remilia, Sakuya and Marisa came to a small cavern with a dark passageway that led further into the earth. Marisa led the way, using a small crystal that gave off a white glow to illuminate the way. As they continued to walk, the cold air around them began to be replaced with a strangely warm, moist atmosphere. The ground beneath them slowly turned from hard dirt and rock to mud. Soon they were able to see small footprints within the mud ahead of them, confirming the presence of the turned fairies. Remilia urged Sakuya and Marisa to walk faster as her patience dwindled. Finally, after what seemed to be a long walk, they came upon an expansive cavern filled with a light mist.

Marisa let out a whistle as she gazed out into the impressively large cavern. "Wow. This place is huge." She said. "Did this place always exist under your mansion?"

"Put that crystal out, you fool." Remilia quickly ordered as she grabbed Marisa by her dress and pulled her back into the passageway they had come from.

Marisa stumbled backwards a little when Remilia released her. "Jeez, give me a little warning, will ya?" She said with an angry huff before tossing her light crystal into her pocket. She then caught the sound of eerie chattering of teeth coming from within the hollow cavern. She felt her skin crawl. "Well I can hear them, but can't see them." She said as she tried to catch sight of the fairies within the dark cavern.

"I see them." Remilia said. Her vampiric eyes glowed a dim, dark red as her vision pierced through the darkness. The mist served to hamper her vision.

Remilia pointed out towards the center of the cavern where the group of fairies were. They stood in a circle hunched over, their teeth still chattering endlessly. Blood covered their teeth, dripping and splashing off them and coating the muddy cavern floor.

Marisa squinted as she looked out towards the fairies, just barely spotting them in the darkness. "The hell they doing just standing around?" She asked.

Labored breathing came from Sakuya. Sweat pored off her body as she became feverish. "Why is it so humid in here?" She asked with a bit of a whine.

Without answering either of their questions, Remilia quickly made her way towards the circle of fairies, with Sakuya and Marisa soon following. Remilia's heart began to beat quicker the deeper she entered the cavern. She could feel the very air beat and move, as if the cavern itself was breathing. A strange, nauseating scent caught her nose, making it twitch a little. The closer she got to the fairies, the more her skin began to crawl. She glanced above her then at her sides, wondering if something else was out there in the eerie, dark cavern.

When they approached, the circle of fairies strangely did not react to their presence. They remained as they were, standing idly and letting their blood soaked teeth to chatter away. The girls stood puzzled.

"Was expecting them to attack, ze. What gives?" Marisa asked while clinging to her mini-hakkero with her right hand.

Remilia walked up to one of the deformed fairies then poked her, but got no response. "Hmm… I almost want to say that they are in some kind of trance." She said.

"How can you tell when they don't even have what constitutes as a face?" Marisa asked.

"What… What should we do with them, Lady Remilia?" Sakuya asked. She was hunched over as each word she spoke appeared to drain her of strength. Suppressing the terrible itching sensation began to take its toll on her as she grew sicker.

Marisa was about to place her hand on Sakuya's back to try and comfort her, but refrained in order to play it safe and not risk getting infected herself. Assuming she wasn't already. "Sakuya, maybe you should go back." She suggested. "I would hate to think you might end up like these fairies. Fighting these turned fairies isn't hard, but you would be a different story I bet, ze."

"Thank you, Miss Marisa, but I am fine, really." Sakuya tried to assure with a forced smile, but it was a failed attempt.

"She is right." Remilia said then turned to face Sakuya. "You are getting sicker at a rapid rate. You need to head back just in case the final stage of this disease is what these fairies are now."

"But milady, I-" Sakuya said before Remilia placed her pointer finger over her lips, silencing her.

Remilia slowly removed her finger from Sakuya's lips. "You know better than to talk back to me, but since you are sick, I shall overlook it this once." She said softly. Sakuya cringed as she hanged her head low. Remilia couldn't help but smile at her frustrated maid. She placed her hand on Sakuya's cheek. "Do not worry, my precious maid. Do not feel forced to redeem yourself for the loss of my treasured rosary right now. You will only make me sad. Seeing you so sick hurts. To see you as one of these deformed creatures would be like a silver dagger in my heart. So please… Spare me that sight and let your master fix her failures." She said with a soothing voice.

Though surprised, hearing the pleasant voice of her master gave Sakuya a little more strength and relieved her of some anxiety. Despite the pain, she forced herself to stand up straight like a proper maid. She nodded. "Yes, milady. As you wish." She said.

"Don't you worry, Sakuya. I'll watch over your master for ya." Marisa said with a wink and a thumbs up.

"My hero." Sakuya replied to Marisa in monotone.

"Hey now…" Marisa maintained her grin even though she was now angered by the obvious lack of confidence Sakuya had in her.

"Get going, Sakuya. I am sure the source of the sickness is in here somewhere. We will destroy it then find a way to reverse those still sick." Remilia said.

"Yes, mistress." Sakuya said then turned to head back out of the cavern.

"Yeah get going, ze." Marisa said to Sakuya then faced Remilia. "I'm glad that gate-guard of yours didn't turn. She might have caused us some problems."

As if on cue, Hong Meiling fell from the darkness above, making a hard landing in the center of the circle of fairies and quickly gaining the attention of the three girls. She slowly rose to her feet, showing that the illness had claimed her. Her teeth were very much the same as the deformed fairies and her hair had lost its young glow and now looked as if it had given into old age. Her eyes were gone, covered up by flaps of her skin. Suddenly, the skin on her face appeared to move. It twitched and pulled then began to tear. The sickening sound of skin slowly ripping apart caused the girls to wince. Their eyes then widened in horror when the skin in the center of her face began to pull apart as something squeezed through. Blood dripped from the tear, running down to Meiling's chin and then to the muddy ground. Finally, one large and grotesque eye appeared in the center of her face. She crossed her arms across her large chest and stood straight and still.

"Oh my gosh, Mei-" Sakuya spoke, but the horrible sight of her friend was the final straw, and she was brought to her knees and forced to vomit blood and bile onto the ground. Small, pale white things wiggled around in the vomit.

Marisa cupped her mouth as she felt something making its way up her throat when she saw the wiggling white things. "What… What the hell…?" She had gone pale, and terror covered her face.

Remilia too felt the urge to puke from the sight of her gate-guard, but she was able to bury the feeling under her growing anger. Anger of seeing yet another one of her servants fall to the disease. She clenched her fists tightly at her side as she tried to keep a calm mind. She started to walk, making her way into the ring of fairies. Meiling's eye was fixated on her as she approached. She stopped just a few feet in front of Meiling then looked around at all the chattering fairies before setting her gaze back on her servant's gruesome eye. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Meiling had spoken first.

"Who are you and why are you here?" The corrupted Meiling sternly asked. Her voice was distorted, sounding monstrous and it was like needles to the ears, but her normal voice was still recognizable to a degree.

Despite the distance between herself and Meiling, Remilia was able to smell and feel the rancid breath from when Meiling spoke. She tried to ignore it, but she couldn't help but to wiggle her nose, as if trying to brush away the smell in the air. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Hong Meiling, do you recognize me, your master?" Remilia asked.

"Are you here to see my master? Do you have an appointment?" Meiling asked, her voice irritating Remilia's ears more.

A bit agitated from having her question ignored by her own servant, Remilia shrugged it off and spoke again. "Hong Meiling, I am your master. I need you to tell me why you are down here and why-"

"If you do not have an appointment with my mistress then I will have to ask you to leave. No one gets in without an appointment." Meiling interrupted, aggravating Remilia further.

Marisa appeared beside Remilia, feeling repulsed by Meiling's sickening presence. "Hey, I got Sakuya to sit down and rest. Now we just gotta see what China's deal is." She said to Remilia without looking at her, grossed out but too fascinated to look away from Meiling. She jumped in surprise a little when the gate-guard's eye suddenly fixed its sight on her. She wrapped her arms around herself when she felt her blood run cold. "Seriously, what do we do about her?" She asked in a whisper.

"If you have no business here then leave now. No loitering in front of the Scarlet Devil Walls." Meiling said in a booming voice. Remilia and Marisa both winced from the sudden pain in their ears.

Marisa looked puzzled. "What is she talking about? There are no walls here. Has she gone completely off her rocker?" She whispered.

Suddenly, a low groan echoed throughout the cavern. Remilia and Marisa looked around nervously, trying to pinpoint the direction the groan was coming from, but it seemed to come from all directions. The air became heavier and a slight tremor could be felt underneath their feet.

Spooked, Marisa swallowed hard. "Uh… Remilia? There's something alive in here." She said with a shaky voice.

"Yes, I am aware of that." Remilia replied calmly as her eyes continued to scan the cavern, desperate to find whatever was making her feel such dread.

"I'm pulling out my little night-light. Screw these things if they don't like the light." Marisa said, getting no objection from Remilia. She pulled out her light crystal then held it up. The light was dim at first but it began to glow brighter. The corrupted fairies and gate-guard twitched, seemingly reacting to the light. Before long, the light was able to banish most of the darkness within the cavern. The mist itself still obscured their vision. Marisa took a glance around, spotting nothing but the walls of the cavern. "Well that's a relief, ze. I see nothing." She said, her muscles loosening up a bit, only for them to tighten back up when she noticed the appalled look on Remilia's face. "I am afraid to ask, but what is it?" Remilia pointed and her eyes followed. She was pointing at the cavern walls behind Meiling. Confused, she was about to ask Remilia what it is she was seeing, but she noticed that what she thought was just the cavern wall was not a wall at all. She couldn't figure out what it was through the mist, but whatever it was, it was moving.

Behind the corrupted Meiling, snuggled within the far corner of the expansive cave was a bloated oval of tremendous size. Its gelatinous-like surface was lacking of any color and the entire thing appeared to be rested within the mud. The repulsive thing pulsated rhythmically, as if it was breathing.

Marisa appeared less disgusted and more baffled than Remilia was as they both gazed upon the unknown thing. "What in world is that? Is it alive or what?" She asked.

The grisly sight of the morbid oval made Remilia's skin crawl. "Forget about what it is. We are going to destroy it immediately." A dark red aura grew around her. It flowed down her right arm then took the shape of a large spear before finally solidifying.

Meiling reacted to the hostile weapon that appeared in Remilia's hand and got into her fighting stance. "You're still here? If you are here to harm milady then you can just forget about it!" She declared with the stomp of her foot.

Marisa started to snicker, annoying Remilia. "Wait wait wait, hold up. Does she think that overgrown potato is you?" She joshed.

Insulted and embarrassed, Remilia's face turned red. "It-it is because the sickness is making her delusional, you imbecile." She cracked back then quickly collected herself. "Let us just destroy this thing. Everything points to it being the cause of this disease. It used the disease to control some of my minions. Why? I do not care to know. We destroy it and my servants should gain their free will back."

Marisa let out a sigh of relief as much of her anxiety and fear had now subsided. "Well that's good. Was expecting something a bit more… Well you know. Creepy. It's just a giant vegetable, for crying out loud." She said.

"It may not look all that intimidating, but that doesn't mean you should get cocky." Remilia warned.

"Alright, let's do this." Marisa said as she did a few stretches. "I'll keep China here busy as well as these fairies if they decide to stop that obnoxious noise they're making and attack while you pop that giant zit."

"Fine with me." Remilia said then readied her spear. The second she made a move towards the bloated oval, Meiling, with a speed that got away from even her vampiric eyes, landed a powerful kick to the left side of her head. Her body spun in the air from the sudden blow, but she managed to land on her feet and with her spear still in hand. A little dazed, she glared at her gate-guard.

Marisa looked back and forth between the two, completely astonished. "Wow! Didn't even see it. That disease doesn't seem to have affected her physical prowess much, da ze." She commented.

The corrupted Meiling snarled. "I gave you the chance to go home and that was the last! If you wish to harm my master so eagerly then I will defeat you where you stand!" Her ear-piercing voice bellowed throughout the cavern.

Meiling took off like a rocket towards Remilia, her feet stomping into the ground and kicking up mud. Remilia braced herself when she threw a punch towards her. Her fist ripped through the air, leaving behind a sickly blue trail of her spirit energy. Remilia blocked the strike with the handle of her spear then shoved Meiling's fist away. She then swiped Meiling's feet out from under her with her spear, but she caught herself with her hand then landed a kick to her face. Remilia grunted from the hit and staggered backwards. Meiling followed up with side kick aimed at her head, but she used one of her wings to block the kick. Remilia thrusted her spear forward towards Meiling's stomach, only for her to catch the blade between her left knee and left elbow. She grabbed a hold of the spear then tore it from Remilia's grasp. She quickly disposed of the spear then launched herself into a flying jump kick. Remilia caught her by the foot then slammed her into the muddy cavern floor. She went to blast Meiling in the back with a red energy ball, but was hit in the face by a glop of mud Meiling had thrown, forcing her to release her foot. Meiling jumped to her feet and stood in a defensive posture.

Remilia wiped her muddied face with her hand and glared intently at Meiling, irritated. Her irritated expression quickly vanished as she started to chuckle. "My, my. Hong Meiling, to throw mud on the face of your master, you must really want to be punished. What should I do to you? Carve your eyes out with my nails? Slowly crush those overgrown sacks of milk on your chest with my foot? Or maybe I should go for something less violent and just plain humiliating like force you to stand guard in nothing but the skin on your back? Oh, the possibilities." She said then started to giggle.

"My master must be protected! Only death for those who try to harm milady! Come at me! Come at me and die! Die! Die!" Meiling shouted strenuously. Her single eye seemed to pop out more as it stared urgently at Remilia. She suddenly leaped backwards when she spotted something thrown at her. A glass vial flew through the air and landed where she had been standing. The vial exploded in blue flames when it hit the ground.

Remilia looked over her shoulder to see Marisa walking up beside her. "I told you to let me handle China. Beating up your gate-guard never gets old, da ze." Marisa said with a cocky grin.

Remilia grimaced at Marisa. "Don't be a fool. I have a strong feeling that Meiling won't let us get to that repulsive thing easily." She said.

"Just like how she keeps me and those fairies out of your mansion?" Marisa gibed then let out a hardy laugh. She ceased her laughter when she noticed the serious look on Remilia's face.

Remilia's eyes were set on Meiling's eye, not blinking and slightly glowing. "If my gate-guard truly believes that thing to be me and that I am in danger, then we are about to find out why exactly I made her my gate-guard in the first place." A small smirk appeared on her face. "Oh yes… I really could use a reminder."

Marisa appeared puzzled. "What ya trying to say, ze?" She asked.

Remilia chuckled. "Attack that thing and find out." She dared.

Taking the dare as a challenge, Marisa turned to face the giant, pulsating oval. Her stomach turned once again from the sight of it. She thumbed her nose then pulled out a spell card. "One well-placed shot will make that thing burst, I bet. Allow me to put some color in this dreary place!" The spell card burned up in a magical blue fire. "Love Sign "Master Spark"!" She bellowed. A glow of different bright colors appeared in between the palms of her hands. She took aim at the swelled thing then thrusted her hands forward. A blast of radiant light burst out from her hands and screamed across the air towards the thing. "And another bites the dust!" She yelled over the roaring sound of her attack. She realized her victory was declared too soon when she saw Meiling appear between her attack and the gruesome oval.

The corrupted Meiling stood with a burning spell card in her hand as the screaming beam of light fast approached her. "Star Chi "Earth-moving Star Bullets"!" She shrieked. A ball of black and gray energy formed in between her hands. It quickly grew as she poured her spirit energy into it and when it was ready, she launched it towards the incoming beam of light.

Marisa's Master Spark and Meiling's giant star bullet crashed into one another, unleashing a powerful shockwave that shook the caverns. Rocks from the ceiling crumbled and broke off, showering the ground below. Meiling's attack proved to have more force behind it as it traveled down the beam. Marisa panicked and pumped more of her power into her attack, but the black and gray star bullet did not break or slow, it continued onwards.

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" Marisa panicked. Just before the star bullet would hit her, she abandoned her attack and flew up into the air, letting the ball of tainted spirit energy to pass harmlessly under her.

Marisa looked to where Meiling was, but she could not be found. Nervous and still in a panic, she quickly scanned around in search for the gate-guard. Sensing an incoming attack from behind, she quickly moved to the side, just narrowly dodging a strike from Meiling. Meiling snarled angrily then jabbed Marisa in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She hunched over in pain and coughed uncontrollably. Meiling grabbed her by her blond hair, lifted her head up then punched her square in the face, breaking her nose. Her nose quickly became black and blue and blood trickled down form it. Meiling did not let up and jabbed her again and then again in the face. Marisa's eyes teared up and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Enraged, she gritted her teeth then grabbed the arm that held her. She kicked Meiling in the stomach, but to her dismay, her attack appeared to do nothing. Meiling punished her with three knee strikes to her abdomen then with a final punch across her face. Blood flew from Marisa's mouth as she spun in the air. She fell to the muddy ground below with a thud.

Groaning in pain, Maria slowly rose to her feet, spitting up blood as she did so. She looked over her shoulder to see Meiling preparing to land on her. She quickly pulled out a vial then threw it at her. The vial hit Meiling in the chest, engulfing her in a blue fire ball.

Marisa grinned. "Gotch'a." Her grin vanished a split second after she spoke.

Meiling was unhindered by the explosion and went to land on Marisa. Marisa jumped out of the way of her explosive landing. She rolled across the ground then got to her feet, only to take a kick to the side of her ribs. She let out a cry then gritted her teeth as she forced herself to bear the pain. She thrusted her arm forward toward Meiling, firing a blue beam of magic from the palm of her hand. With a speed Marisa didn't know she was cable of, Meiling avoided the beam by ducking. She then countered with an uppercut to Marisa's chin, sending more blood flying from her mouth. Marisa stumbled backwards several feet before she got her balance back. She was letting herself become blinded by rage when she pulled out several potions and tossed them all at Meiling. Meiling effortlessly jumped and dodged and rolled to avoid the several vials that exploded as they hit the ground.

Marisa gritted her blood-covered teeth hard as she tried to keep her frustration under control. "Damn it, China! Ya making me so mad right now, ze!" She shouted. She pulled out a spell card. "Star Sign "Eccentric Asteroid"!" She declared.

A large, red spell circle formed high above Marisa and from that spell circle poured numberless star-shaped danmaku of different colors. Meiling's eye closely watched each and every star that came from the spell circle, studying their fall speed and calculating where they would land. Just as the stars were about to consume her, she began moving with great speed. She sprinted towards Marisa, adjusting her path accordingly to where the stars fell in order to avoid them. The stars pelted into the ground, each one causing small tremors as they struck the land. The stars she was unable to avoid she would break with a well place punch or kick.

Marisa growled loudly in frustration as she watched the gate-guard run through her horde of stars with great precision. "What the hell? This one always got her! How is she not even slowing down?" She yelled angrily. She took her hat off, pulling out her mini-hakkero before putting it back on her head. "Can't channel a spell and use a Master Spark correctly at the same time. Gonna need your help, ze." She said to the hakkero. With a stern expression, she took aim at the fast approaching gate-guard as she held her mini-hakkero at her hip with both of her hands. She spat blood at the ground. "Now I'll be serious. Try dodging my stars AND a Master Spark, China." The mini-hakkero started to glow and shake as she charged up its magical power. "Don't be mad at me if you don't get up after this one." She said then thrusted her mini-hakkero forward, unleashing her attack. "Maaasteeerrr Spaaaarrrrk!" Her voice thundered throughout the cavern, only for it to be consumed by the raging roar of the beam of light that she fired. Her hat blew off her head from the resulting winds of her attack. Marisa's empowered Master Spark tore up the cavern floor as it flew by into the shower of star danmaku.

With a sick blue aura flowing off her, the corrupted Meiling performed a spiraling kick, smashing through several star danmaku. She quickly took notice of the beam of light that fast approached her. She kicked off the ground to propel her forward, straight towards the beam. A star scored a hit, landing directly on her. She let out an angry snarl, but continued her sprint towards the beam of light. To Marisa's complete and utter surprise, she ran straight into the beam, head on. Her speed dramatically decreased when the beam hit her. The beam sprayed around her as it tried to push her way, but she continued to push herself down the middle of it. Her aura was quickly blown off by the unrelenting beam of energy and soon her skin began to feel the full effects of the Master Spark. Her flesh was being scorched and her blood boiled. Her hair began to burn as well as her clothes. Despite the massive pain she must have been in, she pushed on through the Master Spark.

Marisa watched in horror as Meiling slowly approached her through her attack. Her mouth hung open at the sight. "No way…" She nearly choked on her words. She was stunned at Meiling's disregard for her own body. She powered down her mini-hakkero, ending her attack.

Meiling stood with parts of her uniform torn off, as well as her skin. A large portion of skin on her upper left arm had been ripped off by the force of the Master Spark. Blood sizzled and smoke rose from her severely burnt body. She appeared ready to continue, despite the excessive damage she had sustained.

"Is she out of her mind? I could have killed her." Marisa said, perplexed. She looked behind her when she heard the chuckling of Remilia.

Remilia walked up beside Marisa, her eyes on her gate-guard. "No, you could not have killed her, witch." She insisted. "She's never seen you as much of a threat so she's never had any reason to use her full power. She merely plays with you whenever you decide to raid the library." She said. Marisa now looked insulted. "I hope now you will think twice before looking down on one of my servants, Marisa Kirisame." She said seriously. She looked at her gate-guard and smiled. "I needed a reminder on why I keep you around. Thank you, Meiling."

Marisa glared down at Remilia. "We have a vegetable of possible alien origins in this cavern and you're busy trying to teach me a lesson. What the hell is your deal?" She sneered.

"It would seem you did not get the point." Remilia said as she rubbed her left temple, impatient with Marisa. She looked up into Marisa's eyes with a stern look. "Meiling will not unleash her full powers unless I am in real danger. She thinks that thing is me, so if I were to have attacked it, she would have popped that cute little head of yours off your shoulders like a daisy in order to stop me. Even in her current form she's too kind hearted to kill if she can avoid it, but won't hesitate to if she feels she has no other choice."

Marisa hung her shoulders low with a glum expression. "Ah… I think I get it." She said.

"I couldn't attack that thing while you were still in that cocky mindset of yours." Remilia insisted.

Marisa smiled. "Aww, you care about me." She said then giggled.

Remilia's face grew red. "Ah! No! I just wouldn't want to have to deal with the backlash I would get from Reimu if I let one of my delusional servants kill you!" She said in a panic.

Marisa laughed. "It's okay, Remilia, I know how you really feel about me." She teased with a wink.

Remilia huffed. "Enough talk. You learned your lesson now I will deal with that thing." She said. "Remember your job is to simply distract them. You try to beat them then you die."

Marisa nodded boredly. "Yeah, yeah." A curious expression then appeared on her face. "Wait a minute. Them?" Remilia pointed towards Meiling, and her eyes followed.

Marisa frowned when she saw Sakuya walk up beside Meiling. Like the fairies and the gate-guard, she too had fallen to the disease. Her hair lacked its silver glow and appeared dead and gray. Her normal face was completely gone. Not even a mouth was present. A muffled, snarling sound could be heard from underneath the cocoon-like covering that made up her face.

Marisa felt very uneasy. "Ah, crap…"

"Keep them busy while I dispose of that thing." Remilia ordered.

"Yeah… sure…" Marisa said, completely unsure on how she was going to handle both the chief maid and the gate-guard. She pulled out a handkerchief and gave her bloody mouth and nose a quick wipe. "Going to be hard with a broken nose. Eyes keep watering up."

Remilia turned around and headed towards the blighted oval. Regardless of the fight between Marisa and Meiling, the fairy maids were still standing around in a circle, chattering away and seemingly oblivious to what was going on around them. Remilia decided to ignore them for the time being, but stopped when a sudden realization came over her. A dreadful realization. She listened to the sound of breathing in the cavern. She knew it was coming from the strange oval. It also sounded as if it was sleeping. It had not yet awoken, but it moved around as if disturbed. She looked around at the chattering fairies as sweat ran down her forehead. She listened closely to the fairies, noticing a haunting rhythm in the noise they made.

"_The fairies… They're trying to awaken it." _Remilia thought, startled.

Remilia formed a spear out of her aura, took aim at one of the fairies then threw it without hesitation. The spear pierced through the fairy, sending her body flying backwards and to the ground. A bloodied hole was left in the fairy's chest and her chattering slowly ended as her life faded. Her body faded as her glittering spirit essence disappeared back into the earth. Remilia readied another spear then went to throw it, but someone grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. She turned her head to see Meiling standing behind her, snarling horribly.

"Do not harm them!" Meiling screamed with her shriveling voice.

Remilia used her free hand to land a powerful punch to Meiling's stomach, knocking her back. She then threw her spear at her, but she leaped over the fast traveling spear. Remilia looked up to see Marisa was having trouble fighting Sakuya.

"Marisa! Destroy the fairies! They are trying to awaken it!" Remilia shouted.

After dodging a string of thrown knives from the corrupted Sakuya, Marisa looked down towards Remilia. With labored breathing, she pulled out several vials from her pockets. "Having trouble just dealing with the maid and now she wants me to put the fairies down? Needy little snot." She said tiredly. She dropped the vials in her hands then returned to dodging the horde of knives Sakuya was throwing at her.

The vials fell from the air then upon the noisy fairies. The vials exploded on contact with the ground, engulfing a large area in blue fire. Several of the fairies were silenced by the explosions, but many more remained, unhindered by the loss of their numbers and still chattering their otherworldly song.

Meiling looked up towards Marisa and let out a hate-filled shriek. Her shriek hung painfully in the air. Remilia resisted the urge to cover her ears and instead blasted Meiling in the chest with a shot of red energy. She then leaped into the air and landed a kick to the side of Meiling's head, sending her spinning in the air. Meiling landed on all fours then launched herself into the air while releasing a stream of pale danmaku at Remilia. Remilia flew up to her level, cutting through the danmaku with a newly formed spear. She made an upward then downward slash with her spear, missing Meiling both times. She then thrusted her spear forward, piercing Meiling in the stomach.

"There. Now your fighting capabilities will be reduced with that kind of wound." Remilia said. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw not blood but pale white things pour from Meiling's wounded stomach. They covered the blade of the spear then started to crawl up the handle, seemingly eating it along the way. She pulled the spear out of Meiling then tossed it to the side in disgust. "Bleh! Repulsive things!"

Meiling retched and contorted before unleashing another blood-curdling scream. The fairies below began screaming with her, filling the air with their vile breath. They screamed in an eerie rhythm in what could possibly be a song from hell.

The giant oval began to thrash around in its apparent slumber. Moans and groans came from it, its wicked beating increased, and its unholy breathing became louder and more oppressing. The thing was slowly beginning to become alive.

The hideous screams of Remilia's servants echoed endlessly in her mind. The horrible sound painfully vibrated her body, shaking her bones and messing up her heart's rhythmic beating. A trickle of blood appeared from her nose as well as her ears. She gritted her teeth as she was forced to put in a lot of effort to suppress the pain. She turned to see the oval being made more active by the haunting song, causing her hidden fear to slowly reveal itself.

"I have to shut these things up. That thing won't die easily if it's awake." Remilia said urgently.

Remilia formed another spear from her aura then went to throw it. As she predicted, Meiling ended her screaming and attacked her. She faked her throw and instead swung the spear around, slicing across Meiling's chest and spilling out more pale, maggot-like things from her. Meiling howled in pain as she threw a punch towards her. Remilia caught the punch with one hand and instantly crushed it with her vampiric might before using her other hand to jam her extended nails into Meiling's single eye.

Meiling let out an anguished cry as blood gushed from her eye. She grabbed Remilia's arm and pulled her nails out from her now blood-filled eye. Snarling insanely, she pulled out a spell card that burned up in a pale blue flame. She round up her fist, preparing to unleash a devastating punch. Her fist burned several dead colors.

Remilia appeared content, giving Meiling a nod of approval. "Very good, Meiling. I'm glad you haven't lost your touch, though I do wish you would steel that soft heart of yours just a little." She said then let out a sigh. "Oh well, that can't be helped, now can it?" She pulled out a spell card. It slowly burned up in a dark red flame. She clenched her right fist and held it back as she prepared a punch of her own. Her fist crackled with dark red energy and pulsated her vampiric power. "Ready when you are, my kind gate-guard." She said with a grin.

"Fiery Attack "Roc-killing Fist"!" The corrupted Meiling shrieked.

"Demon "Remilia Stretch"!" Remilia shouted.

Both Remilia and Meiling threw their fists towards each other. The howling ghost of a great dead bird surrounded Meiling's fist while a spiraling vortex of pure vampiric power surrounded Remilia's. As their fists journeyed towards one another, Remilia's vortex of power proved much greater as it tore apart the corrupted spirit energy of Meiling. The second their fists collided, Meiling was swallowed up in a dark red fire and was blasted backwards into the air.

Meanwhile, Marisa was desperately trying to avoid the never ending horde of knives the corrupted Sakuya threw at her. Her dress was ripped and torn in many places and stained with blood. Her dress hung off her right shoulder, revealing her white bra. She flew through a traveling cloud of knives, catching one in the shoulder and shin. She stopped when Sakuya ceased her relentless attacks. She took the moment to try and catch her breath.

Marisa pulled out the two knives that managed to hit her with a quick yank. She let out a cry of pain with each knife removed. "Good grief… I gotta… I gotta find out where she keeps all of those knives." She said with labored breathing. She let out a groan when she saw Sakuya pull out a spell card. "Tea break, da ze?" She asked and, as expected, got no answer from Sakuya. "No? Bummer…"

Sakuya mumbled her spell card underneath the cocoon-like covering on her face. Her spell card burned away and a gray spell circle formed behind her. Marisa braced herself for her incoming attack, but before her attack was launched, Meiling crashed into her, sending them both flying across the cavern in a burning dark-red fireball.

Marisa gawked as she watched Meiling and Sakuya smash into the cavern wall then fall unconscious to the muddy ground. She let out a sigh of relief then looked over to where Remilia was. "Thanks! I think I'll take five while you do your thing!" She shouted to Remilia, who answered her with a nod. She let out another sigh of relief as she descended to the cavern floor in order to rest. "This was supposed to be fun…" She moaned.

Remilia sighed in relief. "Now to finally put an end to that thing." She said.

She went to silence to remaining fairies, but found that they had all stopped their song of screams. They did not move and stood like statues. She walked up to one of them and discovered that they weren't even breathing. She went to poke one of them to see if she would react, but she fell backwards like a felled tree. One by one, the other fairies began collapsing to the ground. Remilia was confused, but she shrugged her shoulders and was about to move on until she heard grotesque crawling sounds coming from within the fairy. Then, to her horror, she noticed large disgusting bubbles appearing all over the bodies of the fairies. The bubbles swelled and with a sickening pop they unleashed pools of wiggling pale white things. Remilia quickly hovered off the cavern floor before she found herself standing in a lake of wiggling maggots. Suddenly, an invisible hand grabbed a hold of her beating heart when she heard a deep dark howl throughout the cavern. Her face paled with fright, she turned to see the bloated oval slowly awakening.

Countless number of fleshless leg-like appendages sprouted out of the hideous oval. Supported by its many legs, it began to walk. It slowly approached Remilia, wobbling left and right as it appeared to struggle trying to maintain balance. Though the thing failed to show anything that would resemble a mouth, Remilia could feel a warm and vile breath hitting her face as the gigantic thing drew closer to her. The thing then stopped its walking. It leaned over to Remilia, getting almost within her reach. The tearing sound of flesh was then heard. Eyes began to form all over its gelatinous body. The eyes continuously formed and unformed except for one. Remilia nearly gasped in horror as the eldritch abomination known as Eihort stared into her eyes with a dark interest.

Drops of sweat rolled down Remilia's face as she struggled to keep herself from looking away from the horrible creature. She swallowed hard. "Well… I guess this is for the best. It would have been awfully rude of me to have killed you in your sleep." She said. She beamed back at the eye before her then materialized a spear in her hand. Without warning, she thrusted the spear into Eihort's eye. It let out an anguished howl as it jerked backwards and began flailing around, smashing up against the cavern walls and causing it to shake. "But it is also awfully rude of you to stare like that." She said sullenly.

Rancor could now be seen in Eihort's many eyes. It stared dagger-eyes at Remilia then rushed forward with a speed not expected for its size and structure. It went for a body-slam, but missed when Remilia quickly flew out of the way. It crashed into the ground then bounced itself off it towards the fleeing vampire. It managed to catch her off guard with its quick jump and crashed into her, crushing her between it and the ceiling of the cavern. It forced the cavern to tremble when it landed back on the cavern floor.

Remilia was left crushed and flattened on the rocky ceiling face-first. Her blood was sucked back into her as her vampiric body quickly inflated and her bones reformed and snapped back into place, returning to its healthy shape. She pulled her face out of the rock then looked down towards the horror with an angry glare.

"I'll make you wish you never left whatever world you came from!" She threatened then pulled out a spell card. "Midnight Sign "Bad Lady Scramble"!"

Remilia's aura grew and crackled. She lowered herself like a spring against the ceiling then launched herself towards the bloated horror. Eihort used its legs to spring itself upwards. They both stalled in midair when they collided with one another as either side failed to produce more force than the other. Remilia pushed inward into the thing's jelly-like body, but it none the less absorbed the blow of her attack. The horror's body stretched as she stubbornly tried to break through, but the thing's body eventually acted as a rubber-band and snapped her away. She spread out her wings in mid-air in order to stop herself from crashing back into the ceiling. Nowhere near in giving up, she pulled out another spell card.

"Scarlet Sign "Scarlet Meister"!" She declared.

Remilia held out the palm of her hands towards Eihort then began firing cannon bursts of large red danmaku trailed by smaller red ones. The swelled horror made deep grunts as it was bombarded. It started to swing its fleshy legs around wildly to shield itself from her relentless attack. Some of its legs shot out past her, latching onto the stone ceiling. They then ripped out a chunk of stone in an attempt to hit her with it. To its apparent frustration, the stone was blown apart when she casually pointed her palm behind her and blasted apart the boulder to pieces. Its fleshy legs then flew out towards her. She ceased her spell then slashed at the legs with her extended nails, cutting them to ribbons. One managed to touch her. To her surprise it did not try to grab her, but instead it tried to fuse with her skin. She quickly grabbed it and ripped it from her arm, yelping in pain when her skin went with it. Angered further yet still remaining somewhat calm and focused, she pulled out another spell card. She went to declare her spell, but she winced from a sharp pain coming from her side. She clenched at her side as she felt something crawl beneath her skin. She drew in exasperated breaths as her stamina was drained from inside her. She did not have to wonder for long on what was now moving around under her skin and she knew she had to end the horror's existence fast before she was eaten alive from the inside out.

While Remilia fought with Eihort, Marisa was watching from afar after having gotten Sakuya and Meiling out of harm's way. She had ripped pieces from her dress and used them to bandage her cuts the best she could. Holding her glowing mini-hakkero in her right hand, she took careful aim with one eye opened at the horrible oval.

She licked her lips. "Just one well-placed Master Spark and POP… it'll be all over, ze." She said confidently. Her hakkero glowed brighter as its magical power surged inside. She was almost ready when she felt something touch her shoulder. She tensed up and lowered her mini-hakkero then sighed. "Please tell me you're friendly." She hoped then slowly turned around.

Marisa turned to see the hand of a man was placed on her shoulder. The man was quite a bit taller than her and stood silently beside her, looking out towards where the fighting was going on. At least that was what it looked like he was doing. He wore a dark gray robe and a black leather belt around his waist. A hood covered almost his entire face. A grinning mouth was all that could be seen.

A stumped expression formed on Marisa's face. "Uuuhhh-"

"Now now." The man abruptly said as he continued to look out towards the fight. His voice was clear and deep. "Let us sit back and allow the young vampire to deal with that Ancient One. I am sure you will only hinder her progress."

Still perplexed by the man's sudden appearance, she stared at him with her mouth hung open for a moment before finally speaking. "Who… are you?" She asked hesitantly. The man slowly turned his head to face her, still holding a rather creepy grin that caused her to shudder a little. She could feel his eyes looking through his hood and into her own eyes.

"I am but an old friend of the young beauty." He said then snapped his attention back to the fight in progress. "To think this is where Eihort was this entire time. We thought he was hiding in England, waiting patiently."

"Um… Waiting for what?" Marisa dared herself to ask. She tensed up more when the man returned his gaze to her. His grin became larger and more sinister.

"Now that, Miss Kirisame, is a question whose answer you should pray you never stumble upon." He said cryptically.

To Marisa's relief he removed his hand from her shoulder and turned his attention back to battle. She studied the man quickly. The robed man gave off a chilling aura that made her not ask anymore questions. She nervously tried to ignore his presence and just watch the fight, silently cheering Remilia on.

Gritting her teeth and burying the stabbing pain in her side, Remilia called out her next spell card. "Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir"!" She shouted. In her right hand formed a large and majestic spear made from her vampiric aura. Red sparks ran up and down its long form.

She landed on Eihort's gelatinous surface then jammed her large spear into it. She took off running across its body, dragging the blade of her spear across it. The horror let out a dark and horrible howl as its body was being sliced open. It started to thrash around violently in an attempt to throw Remilia off. She was thrown off after it spun quickly on its axis. She landed on the cavern wall then propelled herself off it back towards the bloated oval. With her spear held out in front of her, she impaled the thing in one of the eyes that failed to close quickly enough. The thing howled and thrashed around wildly. She grunted as she tried to force her spear further into the thing, but it became harder and harder the deeper she pushed it in. Suddenly to her disgust and horror, pale maggots sprayed out from the wound. The squirming things covered the front of her dress, sickening her. With a hysterical panic, she screamed and clawed at the clump of wiggling maggots that latched onto her. Too busy with the pale white things, Eihort smashed her into the rocky wall, leaving her as a bloody smear once again.

Remilia's body reformed, along with the things that crawled inside her. She felt them inside her stomach, making her nauseous. Her skin was going pale as the things continued to eat at her stamina. She coughed up blood, along with a few wiggling things. She forced herself to ignore the things as she pulled out a spell card.

"Midnight King "Dracula Cradle"!" She called out, nearly being cut off when a small clump of the maggots came up her throat. She vomited them out as her aura began to spin around her like a violent red storm.

The red storm around her grew in both size and intensity. She herself began to glow a pulsating dark-red. When her attack was ready, she took off like a bullet. She spun rapidly as she flew across the air. Eihort propelled itself forward in an attempt to silence her once and for all, but it failed to stop the spiraling vampire as she pierced through its disgusting surface. She continued to drill towards the center of the eldritch horror, putting everything she had to keep spinning. The inside of the creature appeared full of the small white thing as well as a colorless acid. She tore through the maggots, each popping gruesomely against her spinning drill-like aura, but the acid was able to reach her flesh and it dissolved her body at an alarming rate. Her incredible regenerative powers proved no match for the acid. Her body struggled to repair itself faster than the acid could destroy it, but it was losing. It wouldn't be long until her heart was covered in the colorless slim. Her dress was long gone and her arms and legs were now fleshless. Just as half of the skin on her face melted away, she began to feel despair filling her heart. The despair quickly vanished when she made it to what she believed to be the center of the horror. She stopped then summoned as much of her magical power and as quickly as she could and brought it to her center.

"Scarlet Gensokyo!" She cried out her spell, seconds before her throat was burnt out. With all the magical power she could muster, she unleashed it all in the form of waves after waves of circular red danmaku that quickly began to fill the inside of the horror.

On the outside of Eihort, it appeared to be growing. The many eyes that covered its hideous form had gone berserk, looking around sporadically in absolute panic. As it bloated, red growing cracks began to appear all over its oval form. Some of the eyes started to pop out of its body, hitting the ground in a disgusting splat. With a final howl, Eihort popped, unleashing an ocean of pale things and an explosion of red danmaku.

Marisa was running around the robed man panicking as she tried to avoid being hit by clumps of maggots that rained from the air. The man, still looking out where Eihort once was in strange glee, reached out for Marisa and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her beside him.

"You will be safe if you stand here." The man assured without looking at Marisa. His grin holding strong, his white teeth seemed to glitter a little.

Marisa's cheeks became rosy as she looked up at the man, feeling a sudden comfort next to him. "R-Really?" She asked for more assurance. She was then hit in the face by a flying ball of pale maggots, knocking her to the ground.

The man gave no heed to Marisa, who had fainted from the white things crawling around on her frozen, horrified face before they dissolved into dust. "I guess not." The man said, still grinning.

With the eldritch horror destroyed, the mist that filled the cavern slowly began to subside. The moist air vanished and the cavern's natural coldness settled back in. The pale white things from the destroyed horror were turning gray then crumbling into dust all over the cavern, leaving a covering of soot.

Where Eihort once was, an exhausted Remilia was lying on the muddy ground spread-eagled and completed naked. Her body was healed, free from the painful crawling feeling she had in her stomach. She stared up at the ceiling of the cavern for a moment as she caught her breath. She let out a drawn out sigh of relief as she closed her eyes, smiled, then nodded to herself for a job well done.

"Heh. Too easy." She boasted. She then started to giggle to herself. "Popped like a zit, indeed!" She exclaimed cheerfully while excitedly kicking at the air.

Her laughter ceased when she heard the sound of someone slowly clapping their hands. Thinking it was just Marisa, she opened her eyes and tilted her head back. Her smile slowly faded when she found herself looking up at a robed figure.

The robed man looked down at her through his gray hood, his grin still very apparent. "Well done, Miss Remilia Scarlet. Well done indeed. I expected nothing less from you, you who has fought with other horrors in the past." He said.

Remilia's face turned red as panic slowly crept up in her face. She then reacted to the man seeing her completely nude with a panicked shriek loud enough to be heard echoing even in the Scarlet Devil Mansion up above.


	7. Chapter 7 The Call from a Dream

As the morning sun began to show its glow from behind the horizon, the sky ended its light shower of snow for the time being, leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion covered in a thin layer of glittering snow. The coldness of the night was slowly subsiding, but the chilling winds remained. Life was slowly replenishing within the red walls of the mansion as the illness inflicted by the horror Eihort was cured with its destruction. Those who were sick were slowly recovering and those who were spared from the disease were freed from the fear of joining the ill and corrupted. Though Eihort was gone, the mistress of the mansion was still left with a problem within her own home and more trouble had decided to show up to cause her more anxiety.

Within her office, Remilia was pacing back and forth behind her desk, arms crossed in front of her and fuming. After losing her outfit to the horror below her mansion, she had changed into another pink dress, complete with her pink mob cap with a red ribbon. In front of her desk stood the robed man. He stood at rest with his arms behind him and, going by his grin, appeared to watch amused as Remilia paced around. Marisa stood by near the door, waiting somewhat impatiently for Remilia.

"I cannot believe this." Remilia spoke as she continued to pace. She grinded her teeth in anger for a few moments before continuing on with her thought. "I cannot believe I had an alien creature sleeping underneath my very home this entire time. How could something like that be there without my knowledge? It's preposterous!"

The robed man let out a brief chuckle. "It was quite a surprise for me as well, Miss Scarlet. I was under the impression it was somewhere in England, not on the other side of the globe beneath the home of a beautiful young vampire." He said facetiously. "But, Miss Scarlet, you should not wear such an angry face. You were able to defeat that thing single handedly. That is quite a feat even for a vampire. If it was allowed to unleash its brood, the entire world could have been brought under its alien mind. You should be happy you were able to stop it moments after it had awoken."

Remilia stopped her pacing and glared at the robed man. She looked close to blowing her top. "Happy? Happy?" She said in almost a shout. She then slammed her hands on top of the desk, making Marisa jump in surprise. The man on the other hand did not appear to flinch or be bothered by her sudden outburst in the slightest. It almost looked as if he was holding in a laugh. "I cannot be happy now that I am certain what is controlling my best friend is an alien horror." She glared deeply through the man's hood-covered face and into the eyes behind it. "Your sudden appearance confirms it, Joseph."

The robed man, Joseph, enlarged his grin. "This… is even a bigger surprise. For you to remember me even after we had only met once and only briefly spoken to one another… I am deeply honored and overjoyed." He said softly then bent forward in a bow.

Remilia huffed. "How could I forget?"

"Now wait a darn minute." Marisa approached the desk while minding her distance from Joseph. "You know this guy?" She asked of Remilia.

Remilia turned her eyes to Marisa. "When Max and I had become lost in other worlds, we came across this sorry excuse for a man cowering in an alien library." She said.

Joseph's grin turned into a fake frown, deceptively showing that he was hurt by Remilia's comments of him. "Coward? Dear Miss Scarlet, am I not here now standing before you? For the first time I have left the safety of The Great Library of Celeano and returned to the Earth." He said. His sly grin returned as Remilia continued to glare at him. "Of course you are wondering why I have decided to come here."

"Naturally." Remilia said solemnly. "Why have you come here from that other world? Why here and why now?"

Joseph chuckled. "Oh, Miss Scarlet. You look at me as if you suspect that I have come here with evil intentions." He said.

"Of course. Why would an alien occultist come here to my home just when two alien horrors had made their appearance?" Remilia asked demandingly. "Especially one that had resigned himself to staying in that alien library in fear."

Joseph nodded, as if agreeing with her suspicion of him. "A very good question and one that deserves an answer." He stepped closer to the desk, getting as close as he could to Remilia. She could feel him staring intently into her eyes. "You see, Miss Scarlet. When I first met you and that young man, I was certain, no, I knew the Earth would be destroyed by the Unspeakable One that slept within the boy along with the Crawling Chaos, just as it was meant to be. But that is not what happened now was it?" His grin appeared more twisted and dark. "It pained me knowing that an astounding beauty would be destroyed in the Earth's fated end, but when I heard about the two Outer Gods being sealed in another dimension and that the Earth was still floating about around Sol…" Another brief chuckle escaped his lips. "Let us just say that my heart was filled with something that I cannot explain. When I thought about how you succeeded in delaying the Earth's doom, my heart pounded loudly in my chest. I was suddenly not content with having your lovely face only in my mind. I wanted to see you in person once again. No... I HAD to see you in person once again." He leaned over the desk, his hidden eyes hooked on Remilia's. "At first I thought the feeling in my heart was possibly the fire of hope that you yourself had lit with your impossible accomplishment." Remilia stood her ground even as his face drew closer to hers, her burning scarlet eyes never blinking. "But that was not it. Of course it wasn't. Hope is a fool's concept, but now that I stand before you, seeing your forever-young face, I believe I know what this burning feeling is in my beating heart." Remilia found herself growing nervous the closer he got to her face. She could now feel his breath on her lips. "Miss Remilia Scarlet, this feeling in my heart is that of infatuation for you."

Remilia's angered look was quickly replaced by a befuddled one. Her face flushed as her jaw hung loosely, gawking slightly at the man who had apparently just confessed to her. Marisa broke out into a stifled laugh that turned into an outburst as she hunched over clenching her stomach, causing Remilia's face to further redden.

Joseph stood back up straight then burst out into a hardy laugh. "Of course that is just a guess. I am not quite sure what this feeling is. I have never felt this way towards another individual before. All I know is is that looking upon you fills me with delight. Especially when I was able to see that magnificent, unclothed body of yours." He said.

Marisa was thrown into another fit of uncontrollable laughter while Remilia's face glowed red from utter embarrassment.

"N-No! Y-You were not supposed to see me like that!" Remilia shouted as she flailed her arms wildly up and down in a flustered panic. She placed one hand on her hip and pointed a menacing finger at Joseph with her other hand in a failed attempt to hide her embarrassment and return to her noble demeanor. "You-You should be ashamed of yourself for stealing a glance at me! I should have your head for that!" She fell into more shame as she stuttered some of her words.

Joseph nodded. "You are right, sweet Remilia, I saw something I had not earned the privilege of seeing. I wish to compensate you for the brief, yet wonderful glance I had gotten of you." He said, seemingly sincere with his words.

Remilia was further surprised from his sudden conviction. She quickly collected herself, taking in a deep breath then exhaling as she forced herself calm. "Goodness gracious…" She muttered as she fixed the cuffs on her wrists, her face still quite a bit flushed.

Marisa walked up to Joseph, wiping a tear from her eye after finishing her laughing. "Ah, I needed that." She said, almost breaking into another laugh. "So you got a thing for Remilia, huh? I didn't expect that at all."

Joseph turned to face Marisa. "A thing? If that is what your generation calls it, then I suppose so." He said.

After Remilia fixed her dress after messing it up a little in her flustered panic, she walked around from behind the desk then approached Joseph. "Humph. It is not all too surprising that a man travels across the universe in order to see me. It is to be expected, really." She boasted, taking the opportunity to try and impress Marisa and inflate her own ego a little. She then looked up at Joseph, her eyes full of suspicion. "Your words are indeed sweet, but I wonder what kind of poison lies within them."

Joseph held his hand up to his chest in a faked attempt to show that his feelings were hurt. "You still suspect me of ill will, young Scarlet?" He asked.

"If you were truly here for only me, then you could have chosen another time to show up. Not around the same time as two alien monsters." Remilia demanded.

"Could it have not been simple coincidence?" Joseph suggested.

Remilia narrowed her eyes at him, already impatient with his avoidance of her question. "I think not."

Joseph chuckled deeply. "It is true that my timing was deliberate." He conceded. "I wanted to wait and see when you finally understood."

Remilia raised an eyebrow. "Understood? Understood what?" She asked.

Joseph grinned ear to ear, forming a haunting smile. "That you understood that you were a damned fool." He said wickedly.

Remilia curled her lips into a sneer as she felt her temper flare once again. "A fool, huh? I remember you telling Max that he could not change his fate. You said it was futile. You thought the world would be destroyed by him and that eldritch god yet here you stand on that very world. With my power I broke the string of fate that bound him to that evil god, freeing him. Who's the real fool here?"

Joseph burst out into a thundering laugh. Marisa watched confused and Remilia began gritting her teeth, glaring at him with resentment. Remilia's already dwindled patience had nearly run out before he finally got a hold of his obnoxious laughter.

"Oh, Miss Scarlet, you really do amuse me to no end. I don't think anyone else could ever make me laugh as hard as you do." He said with bits of laughter still escaping from his lips. "Your foolishness makes you wonderful. You must have inherited it from your equally foolish father."

The second Joseph finished his last sentence, in an outburst of rage, Remilia jumped up and wrapped her small hands around his throat, knocking him backwards to the floor. She dug her nails into his skin, causing him to bleed. He grabbed her by the wrists in a desperate attempt to break her deadly grip.

"Oh jeez, ya done it now, da ze!" Marisa exclaimed as she jumped back away from the sudden struggle.

What could be seen of Joseph's face was already turning blue from the lack of oxygen as Remilia tightened her grip on his throat. Blood poured from the holes in his neck. "M… M… Miss…" He tried to speak, but Remilia kept his airway closed tight.

"Are you sure you want to kill him, Remilia?" Marisa asked worriedly, but her words fell on deaf ears.

Gritting her teeth with intensity and bearing her fangs at Joseph, Remilia continued to squeeze the life out of him as she made no attempts at salvaging control over her rage. When she saw him struggle to speak, she began to calm herself and loosened her grip a little.

"Miss Scarlet, please…" Joseph said breathlessly. "I mean no offense with my words. I only speak the truth… and the truth is…" He turned his head slowly to the side, his eyes away from Remilia's deathly gaze. He then quickly snapped his sight back to her eyes. "Your father was a damned fool also!" He shouted then burst out into laughter, only to be quickly silenced when the hands around his neck tightened back up.

"What the hell do you know?! What the hell would you know about my father?!" Remilia screamed. She was now only seconds from snapping Joseph's neck. She would have, if it wasn't for Marisa grabbing her by the arm and tugging at her.

"Come on, Remilia. Don't let yourself go off just because of this guy." Marisa pleaded as she tried to pull Remilia off of Joseph.

Remilia went to put the final squeeze on Joseph's neck, but with a last second hold on her rage, she quickly released his neck, got up off him and walked away. Grumbling angrily to herself, she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her bloodied hands on it. She never wanted to kill someone so badly in a long time. She should have, she thought.

Marisa helped Joseph to his feet. "Up you go, da ze." She said as she pulled him up with two arms.

When Joseph got to his feet, Marisa offered him a handkerchief which he happily took. "Thank you kindly, Miss Kirisame." He said with a dry voice as he dabbed the handkerchief over his neck, soaking up the blood. He faced Remilia, who had her back to him. "It appears I have angered you, Miss Scarlet. That was not my intention. All I was trying to do was shed some light on you and dispel those silly little delusions you seem to have. Freed that boy? Hardly. Saved the Earth? You merely delayed the inevitable." With his neck still bleeding, he walked up behind Remilia. "I know you revered your father greatly, but he was indeed a fool. Going blindly into that sunken city, not knowing what horrors laid sleeping deep within. Just what in God's name was he thinking? Just think…" He placed his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off with a huff and walked away. "If he had only heeded the warnings he had gotten before he had entered that alien city, he might have still been here, along with your mother."

"Alright, bud." Marisa quickly moved to get Joseph's attention when she noticed that Remilia was about to get violent again. "I've been meaning to ask ya." Joseph turned to face her, his grin sending a chill up her spine that she forced herself to ignore. "How do you know so much about Remilia? Hell… You even knew my name and I'm pretty sure she didn't mention me to you the first time you guys met."

Joseph chuckled. "Very easy, Miss Kirisame. By merely reading the stars I have come to learn quite a bit about this lovely vampire and yourself." He said. His grin then gained its sinister appearance once again. "I also know about your father as well."

A slight fearful panic suddenly appeared on Marisa's face. "You… You do?" She hesitated to ask as a bead of sweat formed on her forehead.

"Of course. He was quite the hardy man, now wasn't he? Well liked in the village and loved by his wife and daughter. He loved his wife and daughter also. Well… at least up until he found out that they were witches." Joseph said with a casual chuckle.

Marisa's fists were shaking at her sides now. She had a jaded stare as buried memories began to surface in her mind.

Joseph rubbed his chin as he pretended to think. "Hmm… What was it that he did to them when he found out about that? I cannot seem to recall…" His hidden eyes then returned to the now pale-faced Marisa. "Do you remember, Marisa? What your father did to your mother? You were there, right? You watched? He forced you to watch, did he not? What was it, dear?" He tempted her.

Marisa instantly lost her cool. She grabbed her broom that was resting up against the wall then pointed the end of it to Joseph's face like a gun. She was enraged, breathing heavily, but her expression was more of a horrified fear instead of anger.

The tip of Marisa's broom touched Joseph's nose. "Did I… say something wrong?" He asked, still grinning.

Remilia looked calm as she watched Marisa, but she was alarmed inside. She wondered if she was about to kill her first man. She wanted to stop her, but she was kind of hoping she would go through with it and end Joseph's life like she nearly did.

Marisa was about to blow Joseph's face off with a blast of magic, but she managed to refrain herself. "I should have let Remilia snap your damn neck." She scowled. Tears were forming in her eyes. She lowered her broom from Joseph's face then turned to face Remilia. "I'm going to go check on the others." She said then, not waiting for a response from Remilia, quickly left the room.

Joseph watched Marisa take her leave then turned to face Remilia. "It would seem that I have upset her as well." He said in played solemnness.

Remilia clenched her fist as she struggled to bury her anger with the robed man. "I do not know who you are trying to impress, but your prying into people's pasts ends now. Do you understand?" She said in a raised voice.

"Of course, Miss Scarlet. Forgive me." Joseph said apologetically as he bowed in respect. Whether or not his bow was for show or was genuine was anyone's guess. "The last thing I wish to do is cause you to make such angry faces, even if those faces reveal another kind of beauty you possess."

"Enough of your flattery. Tell me why you have come here. You spoke of being hunted by an eldritch horror being the reason why you chose to stay in that strange library in the first place so tell me why you have endangered yourself to come here." Remilia demanded.

"Ah, I did mention the Hunting Hound to you the last time didn't I?" Joseph asked then let out another irritable laugh. "It is true that I am still in danger of being devoured by that thing so I cannot stay put in one place for long. Even with that wondrous barrier around this land, it only hides my sent from its nose by so much."

"Then why have you come here? What is it that you are after? Answer me." Remilia demanded once more.

Joseph let out a sigh of defeat. "I have come here to warn you, Miss Remilia Scarlet. Eihort, the being that slept below your mansion, he was meant to awaken over a year ago." He said.

A look of surprise appeared on Remilia's face for a moment. "You mean when those other horrors appeared?"

Joseph nodded. "Eihort was waiting for a particular event. He would not awaken until then. That moment was soon at hand, until you and your friends put a stop to it and thus, his awakening was delayed… Until now."

Remilia looked frightfully puzzled. "What event do you speak of?" She asked, almost in a whisper.

Joseph's nefarious grin remained the same. "You… have another one present within your home. He waits within your mansion's library."

Remilia rushed up to Joseph, concern present on her face. "You know exactly what it is? What is controlling my friend?" She asked with a hint of pleading in her voice.

Joseph nodded. "Indeed, Miss Scarlet, and no I cannot help you in destroying it. I cannot go near that one. Even now I can hear his voice in my head as if he was present in this very room. He's… a very persuasive one… If it wasn't for these strange feelings I have for you I might have given into his will already."

"Fine, but tell me how I can free my friend. Tell me how to get rid of the alien being inhabiting Voile." Remilia demanded softly. She was angered and disappointed when Joseph shook his head.

"That is not possible, Remilia." Joseph said. Remilia did not know when, but his grin had vanished, being replaced with a more serious look. "You were able to destroy Eihort without too much difficulty because it had just awoken. If it had the chance to spread its brood further out then your entire fantasy world would have been consumed. The one who waits in the library… Let me just give you the only advice I can. Forget about Patchouli Knowledge and leave this place with the family you have now."

Remilia wanted to tear out Joseph's throat for even suggesting such a cowardly and traitorous act. "You seem to have forgotten that we have defeated other powerful horrors before. We will do the same with the one in the library." She declared, further cementing her resolve.

Joseph formed a sad smile and slowly shook his head from side to side. "Dear… Dear Miss Scarlet…" Remilia could sense pity within his voice. "You just do not understand. What happened over a year ago was no victory. It was nothing more than a childish delay of the inevitable. A fluke, if you will. And now…" His sinister grin returned, and it returned with a chill that made even the Scarlet Devil's spine quiver. "You and your family will suffer far more than you would have if only you had not interfered with the will of the Outer Gods."

Remilia narrowed her eyes at Joseph. "We will see. You were wrong before. You will be wrong again." She said.

A dark chuckle came from Joseph. "Was I, Miss Scarlet? Was I wrong?" He glided over to Remilia then, to her surprise, snatched her right hand. He lifted her hand up to his lips then placed a tender kiss on the top of it, causing her to blush a little. "I had upset you and little Marisa. I do apologize for that." He let go of her hand then stepped back from her. "I must be on my way, Miss Scarlet. As I said before, I cannot stay in one place for long. But do not worry, we will cross paths again. I will make every attempt to see your gorgeous face that I can. That I can assure you." He said then went to leave, but stopped when Marisa rushed into the room.

"What is it, Marisa?" Remilia asked worriedly when she noticed the panicked expression on Marisa's face.

Marisa appeared to have had sprinted back to Remilia's office as she looked fatigued and out of breath. "Bad news. Really bad news." She said strenuously. She held up a piece of paper in her right hand.

Remilia walked up to Marisa then was handed the piece of paper. She read what was on it silently and as she read it, her hands began to shake and her face paled. A fear that made her stomach turn came over her. She lowered the paper away from her eyes when she finished, standing in horrified silence. Her anger flared up when she heard Joseph chuckling to himself. She turned to face him, staring dagger-eyes at him.

"You just can't get a break now can you, Miss Scarlet?" Joseph asked as he chuckled.

"Well if anything at least we know that Flan is feeling better and is able to move around now." Marisa said, trying to shed some light on the troubling situation.

"You knew about this, didn't you?!" Remilia shouted angrily at Joseph.

"Your young sister was gone moments after you defeated Eihort." Joseph admitted.

Remilia dropped the note then went to attack Joseph out of rage, but Marisa quickly grabbed her by the arm. "Hold it! She isn't going to get out of Gensokyo without getting passed Reimu first so we have plenty of time to catch up to her. Hell, Reimu might even be bringing that trouble maker back right now as we speak." She strongly insisted.

"The Shrine Maiden is not at her shrine. She is preoccupied with an incident in the Underworld. Young Flandre is long gone." Joseph said casually.

Remilia resisted the urge to slash Joseph's stomach open and sprinted out of her office.

"Hey wait! Where you going?!" Marisa shouted.

Remilia did not wait. She sprinted out of her throne room and into the hallway. Fairy maids that were busy doing their jobs were forced to jump out of the way or be ran over as she flew through the mansion. She leaped up to the second then third floors, bypassing the stairs completely. She ran down the long hallway whose space was distorted, but it allowed the master of the mansion to reach the room it hid at the end. She opened the door then entered her father's old study room and immediately began searching for something. She went to the desk in the middle of the room and opened a drawer then pulled out a number of maps. She placed them on the desk then hastily began looking through them one by one. Her expression became more panicked with each map she scanned over, failing to find what she was looking for. Not finding what she wanted within the maps, she threw them off the desk then began to franticly rummage through more desk drawers.

"Where is it? Where is it?" She asked fearfully.

She failed to find what she was looking for with the first desk and immediately went to search the second desk that sat against the wall. She let out a gasp of surprise when she saw Joseph suddenly standing in front of the desk. She went to yell out him to get out, but she noticed the rolled up map he held up in his hand.

Joseph stood with his grin present. "What are… you looking for, Miss Scarlet?" He asked despite already knowing the answer. Remilia stormed up to him then snatched the map away from him. He refrained from laughing, watching amused as she unrolled the map on the desk in the middle of the room. "You have been going through all of your father's maps. What is it that you are trying to find, Miss Scarlet?" He asked softly.

Remilia did not spare him a glance. "My sister said in her note that she had talked to our father in a dream. That he had told her to go to where he was. That he was waiting for her." She said with her eyes locked on the map in front of her. With a scowl, she rolled up the map and tossed it aside. "That's not it either…" She said with her expression turning gloomy.

Joseph's grin grew. "The death place of your father." He said heinously. Remilia winced at his words. She was growing more troubled with anxiety, and he laughed inside at this. "It would appear your sister took the only map he had of that city's location, leaving you with no way of finding her and stopping her from doing something extremely foolish." Remilia dug her nails into the desk as he spoke, frustration and fear beginning to overwhelm her. He spoke the truth and she knew that. He was struggling from bursting out into a laugh.

After watching Remilia drown silently in her despair for a few moments, Joseph approached her. She snapped out of her dread-filled trance when he abruptly grabbed both of her arms, turned her around then pushed her up onto the desk, pinning both of her hands above her head. She looked greatly alarmed and angry.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?! Get your hands off of me!" She shouted. She went to easily break out of his hold on her, but suddenly felt paralyzed when he spoke up.

"I know the location." He whispered in a dark voice. His face was very close to hers, his lips just an inch from her own. She tensed up. "Of course you already knew that. You shouldn't be so stubborn, dear Remilia. You should just ask me to provide you the location of the nightmare corpse city. Go on. Just ask."

He pressed his chest against hers, causing her to struggle beneath him. His gaze produced a kind of cold weakness in her and she tried to look away from the set of eyes she knew to be inhuman behind the hood, but she couldn't. She grunted as she tried to kick him off of her, but she strangely could not produce enough strength. She could feel a numbing drain on her body from his vile touch. He moved his lips to her right ear, causing a small yelp to escape her lips. She shivered when she felt his cold breath hit her ear.

"All you need to do is ask, Miss Scarlet, and I will be more than happy to give you the location." He whispered in her ear with chilling effect. "But… as you apparently already know, I will need to be persuaded to actually tell you. Just a test of your resolve would be more than enough to persuade me to give you the location you crave for so much." With his left hand holding both of her hands above her, he placed his right hand on her side and glided it down to her hip.

Remilia let out loud yelp of surprise, her face flushed. "You-You bastard! I'll kill you for touching me! I will boil your eyes! I will peel your skin off! I swear it I will!" She yelled as she thrashed around trying to break herself free.

She tried summoning up her magical power, but it was like she had none to begin with. No power came, leaving her feeling like a weak defenseless girl. She could not understand it. She could only assume the man had placed an alien curse on her. For a brief moment she thought that maybe it was only because she was frightened of the fiendish man and his terrifying amount of knowledge of all things eldritch, but she quickly dismissed the idea, thinking it absurd and impossible. She fatigued herself quickly and stopped her thrashing in order to rest.

Joseph moved his eyes back to hers. His condescending grin enraged her to no end. "Surely anything I ask is nothing if it is for your beloved sister?"

Remilia's face was red as she gritted her teeth, but a hurtful tear was forming in her eyes. "You would use my dear sister against me just to get what you want from me? You are below that of scum. How many more reasons to kill you will you give me?" She scowled.

"If you wanted to kill me then you would have done so already, Miss Vampire. Strange you have not. Maybe it is because you are in need of someone who knows more about these things than you? To help explain the horrors you appear hell-bent on fighting head on. If that is so, then you may not be as foolish as I had originally thought. But not by much." Joseph said.

"I have had enough of you! I have allowed you to insult me far more than I should have!" Remilia yelled.

"Then be done with it, Miss Scarlet! What is holding you back?! It certainly isn't me! I'm just a mere human! I'm no match for a mighty vampire like you! Stop wasting time and cut me down! Go and stop your cherished little sister all on your own!" Joseph's voice boomed.

Remilia started her struggle to break free from the robed man once again in desperation. Her body was already numb and now, from a strange effect of the man's voice, her mind was starting to go numb as well. She tried to think of a way to free herself, but her thoughts had become jumbled and disorganized. The image of the man in her face had become blurred and out of focus. The sound around her distant and dead. She developed a migraine as she tried to collect her thoughts. She felt her body shrivel up when Joseph spoke again.

"You're running out of time, Remilia. She's getting close." He whispered. Suddenly, Remilia's vision had snapped back to normal. Her mind somewhat clear again. "Admitting you are just as helpless as any other being on this pathetic little planet is the first step in getting me to tell you what you need to know."

She turned her face away from his and began contemplating to herself, her mind in chaos once again. She wanted to end the man's life with all of her rage, but she needed to know the location of the place her wayward sister had gone off to. She needed to keep her away from that place no matter the cost, knowing all too well just how dangerous it was. She was desperate and would do anything to get the information she needed. She wanted to just torture the information out of the man, but to her aggravation, knew that such measures would not work on the eerie robed man. She felt great shame, but she was running out of time. The longer she hesitated the closer Flandre got to that sunken city that had slain their father and drove their mother into madness.

She bit her lip and with great shame spoke up. "Whatever… Just… Just be quick about it. Afterwards you tell me. You better tell me…" She said in almost a whisper as she reluctantly loosened her body up the best she could. She laid defenselessly on the desk and waited for Joseph to have his way with her.

Joseph grinned in triumph. He released her hands, with his evil grin growing when she remained motionless and at his mercy. He placed a hand up under her dress and placed it on her leg. He ran the hand up her black thighhigh-covered leg then to her black side-tie panties. Her body twitched as he felt her shape and when he loosely grabbed a string to her panties.

"You really do love your sister, don't you?" Joseph asked slyly.

Still looking away from his alien gaze, shame-filled tears were forming in her eyes. "Of course I do, you fool. Now shut up and get on with it." Her voice cracked. She felt completely powerless.

Not able to contain himself any longer, Joseph stood up then broke out into an uncontrolled laugh. Remilia quickly sat up in surprise then stared at the man with a dumbfounded expression. He was hunched over, clenching his gut as he laughed.

"Oh, dear Remilia Scarlet!" Joseph exclaimed in between his laughter. He forced himself to stand up straight and to face Remilia, all the while trying to get a hold of himself. "That helpless expression of yours is just too much for me!" He managed another sentence before falling into laughter once again.

Remilia was completely puzzled with the man, but her anger for him returned as her expression slowly turned into a scowl. "You… You were just toying with me…" She said bitterly. She was shacking all over. She really wanted to kill him and she was just about to before he spoke again.

"Oh please, Miss Scarlet, don't look at me with that kind of face. I'm the one who should be angry. I'm hurt and appalled that you thought me capable of doing such a despicable thing to you." Joseph said, breathless from all of his laughter. He took a deep breath when he finally started to calm. He collected himself and stood up straight, his grin never fading. "You are admirable, young vampire, but please… Don't be so quick to let yourself be hurt even if it's for your sister. You both will only be hurt in the long run." He said.

"Location." Remilia demanded, her rage escaping a little into her voice.

Joseph nodded. "Nine. Forty degrees south. Forty three. Hundred twenty six degrees west. Those are the coordinates." He said. "I hope telling you the location will suffice as an acceptable apology for seeing your bare body earlier without your consent and I apologize once again if my little games go too far. I mean not to hurt you, but to enlighten. I do hope you will realize the errors of your ways before it is too late."

With the coordinates in her head, she looked at the globe on the desk to find where they corresponded to. Seeing the numbers match up to a location somewhere in the southern Pacific Ocean, she instantly headed for the door to head for the location, burying her desire to kill the robed man with the thoughts of her sister.

"One more thing, Miss Scarlet." Joseph said. Remilia stopped right in front of the door and waited for what he had to say without turning around to face him. "I beg you to take this advice… Find your sister before she is able to enter that dreaded city. If she enters it then consider her gone forever. Once you find her, bring her back here yourself and forget about that place. Under no circumstances must you enter that city. I tell you this from the bottom of my heart. Do not enter that city for your sake… and for this world's." He said sternly.

Remilia thought about his advice, but only for a short moment before dismissing it. Though he did nothing to her physically, she still felt as he had raped her somehow. She took her leave in silence, leaving Joseph behind.

Joseph chuckled. "Oh dear… I can't help but think that my advice has gone in one ear and out the other… You are too much like your father." He said to the absent Remilia then let out a sigh. "It looks like I'm going to have to stop my dear little vampire from running straight into her doom." He looked down at the desk sitting against the wall. He reached causally down and pulled open one of the drawers. He reached in and pulled out what laid within it. He brought a metallic medallion up to his face, grinning slyly at it. "But I'm going to need a little help in stopping her." He gazed at the cursed symbol engraved on the front of the medallion, his grin growing ever larger and more unholy. "Is it cold in there?" He spoke, seemingly to the Yellow Sign Medallion, before vanishing into thin air.


	8. Chapter 8 Drowning Sanity

With the location of where her father had met his end and where her troublesome sister was now making her way towards burning endlessly in her mind, Remilia was making quick preparations for what she hoped to be a short trip into the Outside World. She did not like it in the Outside World, the air having become too filthy for her to tolerate over the centuries, but she was left with very little choice now. She had to bring her young sister back and was not planning on returning to Gensokyo without her in hand. She thought about how she should punish her, leaving not only the mansion but Gensokyo without her permission. She was not worried about Flandre hating her for it. What she was doing had to be the most foolish thing she has ever done so the punishment would be greatly justified. Though she did worry about the nature of the dream her dear sister had of her father. Neither of them spoke to one another much about the dreams they had and one about their parents was rare, at least for Remilia. She hoped to catch up to her sister before she actually made it to where their father had fallen, but she did not hold too much hope. She always dreaded the place that became her father's grave and that has not changed one bit.

Remilia felt that she should go alone, with Flandre being her sister and thus her responsibility and all, but she thought it wiser to have extra help just in case Flandre decided to be difficult like she normally is. Naturally she wanted to bring her Chief Maid, but Sakuya was still ill and out of commission. She had gone to her bedroom to see that she was recovering quite well, but she was still far from being healthy. She cursed her maid for being only human. Her next choice was her Gate Guard, Meiling. She was in better condition than Sakuya thanks to her healing abilities that came naturally with being a youkai. She just was not at one hundred percent yet. After a second thought, she decided to have Meiling remain in the mansion. She needed someone healthy enough to defend the mansion in case the eldritch horror within Voile decided to take action while she was gone. She really wanted to throttle her sister for deciding to be a problem at such a horrible time. She was now left with only one person at hand. Marisa. She did not really enjoy the witch's company all that much, but she was in no position to be picky. Though she had become a little interested about her father after Joseph decided to bring him up. Remilia's relationship with her father was a good one, but apparently that wasn't so with Marisa and her father. She was curious and wanted to ask about it, but decided it was none of her business and left it be. She did not have to ask Marisa to assist her. She had already decided herself that she was coming along to the Outside World, being even excited about it. Remilia wanted to smack her for taking light of the situation.

After Remilia gave Meiling her orders to remain in the mansion, she and Marisa met up at the main doors of the mansion. Marisa was rubbing her mini-hakkero with her apron, giving it a quick and crude clean up. Marisa looked up when she saw Remilia approaching her. She grinned then tossed her hakkero into her dress pocket.

"What took ya, da ze? We got a little vampire to catch y'know." Marisa said anxiously.

Remilia beamed at the giddy witch. "This is not a game, witch. This is an extremely serious matter. We go to the Outside World. We catch my little sister. And we come straight back. No horseplay." She said pettishly.

"Alright. Alright. Calm down, ze. It's just not often I get a good reason to go to the Outside World y'know. I'm a little excited." Marisa stated. She looked antsy. "So. Where is Flan off to, huh? One of those big cities with those tall metal buildings that reaches the heavens?" She asked, looking very urgent to know.

Remilia shook her head as she let out a disgruntled sigh. "You dumb witch. She is going to where our father died. Do you really think he passed away in a modern human city?" She said curtly.

Marisa frowned, looking hurt inside. "Oh… That's right. Sorry…" She said apologetically.

"We need to try and catch up to her before she even reaches her destination so let us leave now." Remilia said.

"Yeah, but… um…" Marisa looked down the main hallway where some fairy maids kept themselves busy by cleaning and doing other tasks. The slight appearance of anger appeared in her expression. "Where did that creep go? He vanished after you ran off. I'm not sure you should let him wonder around here, ze." She said. Her fists were tightening up at her side as she recalled what Joseph said to her. "I should have…" She said in a lowered voice to herself.

Remilia noticed the troubled expression on Marisa's face. She could see that she was still bothered from having had the memories of her father brought up by the robed man. She was already ready to kill the man herself, but by some dark feeling she was repelled from harming him. She could not shake off the idea that the dark feeling was just fear, and it humiliated her.

"Forget about him. He left to cower somewhere else. We need to worry about Flandre." Remilia insisted.

Marisa forced a smile and nodded. "Okay, Remilia. Lead the way."

* * *

Remilia and Marisa left the Scarlet Mansion posthaste. Flying fast through the cold air only made them more cold. The wind was chilling to the bone and detrimental to them. Snot ran down Marisa's nose and she was visibly shivering, but Remilia kept a stern appearance even though she also shivered inside.

They made their way to the Hakurei Shrine. With the Shrine Maiden nowhere to be found just as Joseph said, they immediately made their way to the weakest spot in the Great Hakurei Barrier that lay not far behind the shrine. They came to the spot. It looked like a watery, transparent mirror that idly floated in the air. With little effort, they stepped through the weak point of the barrier and into the Outside World. From there they journeyed south west across the Pacific Ocean. Just as it was in Gensokyo, the air was mind-numbingly cold and it only got colder as they journeyed across the blue ocean. To an eerie effect, the sky seemed to dim the closer they got to the hidden location.

Marisa abruptly sneezed, pulling out a handkerchief only for it to be blown out of her hands. She growled angrily. "Damn it all…" She cursed at her luck. With snot still dripping down from her nose, she turned to Remilia who flew beside her. "Hey, Remilia. What is the name of the place your father died? If you don't mind me asking that is, ze." She said before snorting.

Remilia kept her eyes out in front of her. "It is supposed to be some ancient, sunken city. The name I cannot tell you for I have forgotten." She answered truthfully.

"Ah, alright. Guess the name isn't really that important anyways." Marisa said then faced forward. She had to unclench the broom she rode from time to time in order to keep her hands form freezing to it. She was sure her butt was frozen to it now, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "So uh… What happened to your father exactly?" She asked. She had wanted to ask since they left the mansion, but she was reluctant until now. Remilia did not answer her for a time. She didn't expect her to tell her in the first place and was surprised when Remilia finally spoke up.

"As you might have guessed after seeing his old study, he had a hobby in collecting things from old and lost civilizations. When he heard of some mysterious city that rose from the ocean when the stars were right, he just had to learn of its whereabouts. After a time of searching he finally came about a map that had its location. He immediately set out for it, along with my mother." Remilia said sententiously. She did not really want to tell Marisa this. She was merely in need of a distraction from the annoying cold that bit her skin relentlessly and making conversation was the only thing she could think of.

Marisa looked alarmed as she turned her eyes back to Remilia. "Your mother too?" She asked woefully.

Remilia nodded. "I learned about what happened to my father from her. She had escaped meeting the same fate as him, but…" Her stern expression broke for a moment, showing a more sorrowful expression. "She broke down eventually after experiencing whatever lies in that city."

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry." Marisa was regretting asking, but she could not help it. Her curiosity got the best of her. "So what… what exactly killed him?" She asked, feeling bad for it.

Remilia was silent for a moment. Her mother had told her what had slain her father, but in a very puzzlingly and ambiguous way, probably caused by the madness she had been inflicted with. She tried to recount what her mother had described to her, but everything she remembered made no sense. She eventually gave up on remembering. All she really cared about was that she would destroy the thing, whatever it was, one day.

"Just some alien monster." Remilia said.

Marisa's eyes widened in surprise and fear. "Oh…" She did not know what to say to that and decided it was best not to say anything. She faced forward and remained silent for the rest of the cold journey.

After a long, cold, and dreary flight across the ocean, Remilia and Marisa came upon a raised island of jagged and mossy black rock. The island had an eerie white haze shrouding it. The sky over top was completely filled with dark gray clouds and the ocean around the island itself appeared black. The air was much colder and wet than that of the winter in Gensokyo. The clouds rolled continuously across the sky as the ocean water crashed relentlessly against the rocky cliffs. From time to time thunder could be heard rumbling from the shadowed horizon.

The girls landed somewhere along the edge of the island and the second their feet touched the ground, a spine tingling shiver different from the chilling cold rippled through their bodies. They both on reaction hugged themselves.

Marisa snorted to clear her nose. "We-We haven't been here five seconds and I'm already fr-freaked out by this place." She said as she shivered. She made a quick scan of the area. Upon seeing nothing but rock and more rock, she turned her head to face Remilia. "Are you sure this is the right place? There's n-nothing here."

Remilia herself was also shaking quite a bit from the cold. Her vampiric constitution was being put to the test by the island's remorseful cold. "I am sure. I sensed Flandre's presence just a moment ago." She assured.

Marisa sneezed. "Agh… This place is so miserable, da ze." She said in a haggard voice then snorted. "If this is the place then where's this city at?"

Remilia began walking, trying to pick up on Flandre's presence by her scent or by the destructive energy she tended to leak out. To her frustration, all she could smell was the salty ocean and all she could feel was the sense of dread as she treaded across the island.

"The city is here. Below us…" Remilia said as she continued to try and pick up Flandre's presence. She wasn't really sure where the city was. It was more of a gut feeling than anything. A very convincing gut feeling.

Marisa stopped following Remilia for a moment to look down at her feet curiously. "It is, ze?" She asked, and then sneezed again. She wiped her nose on her coat sleeve then continued on with Remilia. "Maybe Flandre decided to go home? No offense, but is it really worth going through this cold and creepy place just because your dead father told you to in a dream? I mean she does know he's dead, right?"

"Of course she does, you fool." Remilia said sourly. The cold was really irritating her.

"Then it must have been one hell of a convincing dream. Like a wet dream, y'know? One that tricks you into having an-"

"Be quiet, Marisa. I'm trying to concentrate." Remilia said, interrupting Marisa.

Marisa wasn't the only one disrupting her concentration. She could feel a dark force from right under her very feet, tugging at her mind. It felt as if it had a hold of her foot, trying to pull her down into the dark depths below the ground. It was another source of anxiety for her and was what convinced her that she was indeed at the site of the sunken city. She grew more desperate in finding her sister, fearing the thought of Flandre finding her way to the city below. Her heart was strained at the thought of her possibly already being in the city, lost and all alone. The haunting presence beneath her was distracting her so much that she didn't even hear Marisa speaking to her until she grabbed her shoulder.

"Yo, Earth to Remilia, da ze!" Marisa said loudly into Remilia's ear, snapping her out of her apparent trance.

Remilia looked up at Marisa with a puzzled expression for a moment before shaking her head to clear her mind. "Ah… Wh-What is it, Marisa? I told you that I am trying to concentrate." She said, now looking visibly annoyed.

"Yeah, you nearly concentrated straight into this boulder." Marisa said as she pointed in the direction ahead of them.

Remilia was surprised to see a boulder just a few steps in front of her. "Oh… I uh…" She tried to think of a way to explain herself for nearly walking into it, but instead let out a small, disgruntled grown.

Marisa raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey Remilia… You okay?" She asked.

Remilia took in a breath of cold air then exhaled, trying to calm her mind. "I am fine, thank you." She said then continued walking on with Marisa right beside her.

"You sure, ze? You kinda look a bit out of it." Marisa said, looking worried now. "Cold getting to you? Maybe you're just scared perhaps?" She suggested.

Remilia burst out into a hardy laugh, surprising Marisa but also making her less worried for her. "Don't be foolish, dear Marisa. I am not scared. A little overburdened sure, but far from being scared." She said cheerfully then continued laughing.

Remilia's laughter slowly died down when she realized the truth. She was scared. Scared of the place that had destroyed her parents. Right below her was where her father was killed. Right below her was where her mother had been driven insane. And right below her was where the horror slept. The thing that took her beloved parents away. The alien that was the source of her hatred towards anything otherworldly. The monster she wished to destroy at one point in her immortal life and finally surpass her father in power and prestige. It was here right now sleeping below her. She wanted to avenge her father badly, but she was not going to go looking for it when she was not fully confident in herself. Even after having fought with eldritch gods before, she did not feel close to being ready to face the Cosmic Horror that slept in the sunken city. She tried to cover the thought of the thing with thoughts of her sister, but the more she struggled to dismiss the temptation of shredding the horror to pieces with her own hands the more pain she felt growing in her mind. It was almost as if the alien abomination was taunting her, and it enraged her.

Remilia was brought out of her thoughts when Marisa shook her by the shoulder. She looked up at Marisa with an angry expression. "What is it this time?" She asked with irritation in her voice.

Marisa looked upset herself. "Don't get mad at me. I've been asking you if you had picked up anything on Flandre yet you keep ignoring me." She said bitterly.

Remilia's angered expression faded as she looked away from Marisa. "Oh… Forgive me. I must have been deep in concentration." She said glumly.

Marisa was worried for her again. She let out a sigh of disappointment then shook her head back and forth with a sad smile on her face. "You can't fool me, vampire. You're too distracted by something else. If you weren't you would have gotten a lock on Flandre by now." She said confidently.

Remilia huffed at her. "What would you know, witch?" She said pettishly. A panicked expression quickly appeared on her face when Marisa suddenly grabbed her cap and lifted it into the air. "H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Give it back!" She shouted as she jumped for her cap in Marisa's hands, only for it to be whipped away when it was inches from her grasp. She jumped again only to miss. Her face became red as Marisa laughed at her. "Stop being a child and give me my cap back!" She demanded.

Marisa giggled mischievously. "Me a child? I'm not the one jumping around like one." She said slyly.

Remilia's face glowed a brighter red as she started to fume. She leaped into the air again, succeeding in snatching her cap away from Marisa. She placed it back on her head then folded her arms in front of her with a huff. "You're asking for another broken nose." She threatened.

Marisa giggled. "There we go, da ze! There's the Remilia I know. Keep the face you have now. The gloomy one you had earlier doesn't suit you." She said happily.

Remilia looked confused for a moment before putting on her angry face again. "If you have nothing better to do than to make me angry than why did you bother coming?" She scowled.

Marisa held up her pointer finger, wagging it back and forth as she tutted. "Now now, da ze. Who should you be thinking of?" She asked.

Remilia again looked confused. "Huh? Well Flandre, of course." She answered.

Marisa nodded cheerfully. "That's right. Flandre. Not me. Not your dad. Not whatever the hell is living down in that city. Just Flandre." She said.

Remilia then understood what Marisa was trying to do. She was trying to help her set her mind straight. It was a crude way of doing it, but she realized it actually helped. She was less anxious and more calm now, even if a bit flustered. She turned away from Marisa and began walking again. She wasn't going to admit it, but deep down she was glad Marisa was there to keep her company. She already hated the idea that Flandre was wondering around the bitter cold island all by herself, but then again, she thought maybe that was a blessing in disguise.

After several minutes of more walking around, Remilia did eventually pick up Flandre's presence. Faint as it was, she was able to trail it. After a short hike they came to a steep cliff which they easily traversed over by the method of flying. From atop of the cliff the girls were given a much wider view of the island, with the white mist only keeping them from seeing out further beyond. They both scanned what they could see, looking for any signs of Flandre.

Marisa sneezed twice in a row in quick succession. "Ahg, damn it!" She cursed then wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I can see it now in that stupid tengu's newspaper. Right there on the front page. 'The Great Witch, Marisa dies. Not during a battle with an evil being from another dimension, but from the common cold. What a loser.'" She said bitterly, but smiled when she heard Remilia giggling quietly, happy to have gotten a laugh out of her.

Marisa squinted her eyes as she tried to spot any small movements on the ground below. She then spotted a dim light down in what looked like a small crevice.

"Yo, Remilia. Check that out." She said, pointing in the direction of the light.

Remilia looked to where Marisa was pointing, spotting what she saw. "Hmm… Looks like we are not the only ones here." She said worriedly.

"It could be Flandre. If not then we could always ask them if they've seen a small and cute vampire wandering around." Marisa said then let out a forced laugh that quickly died down.

"Well we won't know unless we go down there and check for ourselves. Let us go." Remilia said. With a running start, she leaped off the cliff then unfolded her wings, letting herself glide the distance down.

Marisa shrugged her shoulders then hopped onto her broom and followed Remilia.

They both flew silently through the air, careful not to draw any attention to themselves as they landed behind a moss covered boulder. They peeked around their cover to see the source of the light. A lit torch embedded in the stone wall provided light for three dark figures. They wore black robes and black masks that looked identical to that of a gas mask with two filter containers, keeping their identities hidden. The eyes of the masks had a green tint to them. They stood in front of what looked like the entrance to a cave, chatting idly to one another. One of the robed figures had what looked like a fairly large handgun in a holster on his side. Its design pointed towards a non-human origin.

"Huh… Wonder what they are doing just standing around." Marisa said, keeping her voice low.

"Looks like they are guarding the entrance to that cave." Remilia replied in a hushed voice. She bit her lip nervously. "Flandre's trail leads into it…"

"Then maybe these fellows can help us. Want me to do the talking, ze?" Marisa said, but noticed that Remilia was already making her way towards the three robed people. Angry from being ignored again, she puffed her cheeks out at Remilia then followed her.

The robed men's conversation came to an abrupt end when the heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. Alerted, they quickly got on guard, with the robed man with the gun pulling his weapon out of its holster. The man pointed his gun at Remilia and Marisa when they came into sight. Now chuckling, he lowered his weapon and looked at the other two men.

"Jesus Christ, it's just some kids. Scared me for a moment." He said then placed his gun back into the holster, lowering his guard. His young sounding voice was muffled from the mask he wore.

One of the robed men approached the girls. "What on earth… How did you two get here?" He asked in a deep, old sounding voice. He sounded both shocked and irritated by the girls' appearance.

The third robed man ran up next to the older sounding man, staring intently at the wings on Remilia's back. "Whoa! Check this girl out!" He said excitedly. He also sounded young.

Marisa threw her broom onto her shoulder then put on her cocky grin. "Sup, fellas? What ya doing in a cold place like this, ze?" She asked cheerfully.

Remilia was not wearing a friendly face as Marisa was and glared at the man she safely assumed to be the senior of the three. She was already highly suspicious of the men and was not about to let her guard down around them.

"How we got here is of no concern of yours. We are here looking for someone who we believe to have passed by here and would like to know if you have seen her." She said clearly.

Marisa nodded. "Yup. Hair color like mine. Short as Remilia here. Cute and cheerful. Breaks things randomly. Hard to miss." She stated.

The three men were silent as they looked at one another conspicuously. Remilia quickly decided that the men had seen her sister and now she was ready to rip through them and to the cave they seemed to be guarding, not caring for their reason of being there.

The older sounding man looked down at Remilia through his mask. "We have seen no one with those features. Now I will have to ask you two to leave. This is no place for two girls. Now go." The man said in a demanding tone while waving them away.

Remilia was convinced he was lying. "I am afraid that will not happen until I find the person I am looking for. I believe she may have entered that cave you three seem to be guarding. So we will be checking in there." She said.

The two younger men began laughing, but were quickly silenced when the older man turned his head to them and spoke. "Be quiet!" He said in a raised voice at the two. He turned his attention back to Remilia then sighed. "Look, Miss. We cannot allow you to enter here. It's too dangerous even for a supernatural creature such as you. We already have people down in the cave so if the person you are looking for is down there then they will find her and bring her back." The man said.

Remilia narrowed her eyes at the man, glaring at him with wariness. "What are you people doing down there exactly?" She asked.

"That is none of your business, vampire, now go!" The man shouted angrily, apparently having lost his patience.

Marisa let out a drawn out whistle. "Well well well! The guy knows you're a vampire yet has the guts to yell at you like that. What you going to do about it, Remilia?" She asked slyly.

A dark grin slowly formed on Remilia's face. "That is a very good question, Marisa. What should I do? Smash his teeth in then pull out his tongue? Rip his feet off and bleed him out?" She suggested.

"Or how about we just give them a simple ass woopn'?" Marisa said with a nervous laugh.

Remilia huffed. "You're no fun…" She mumbled.

"Oh, shit. Sir, you pissed her off." One of the younger robed men said as they slowly backed away from the girls, fear present in his voice.

The older man was also backing away from Remilia out of fear. "Now hold on, Miss. We are just trying to keep you safe. You have no idea what is within that cave. Don't be a fool and just turn back. Please." He said in a trembling voice.

"Is it the sunken city?" Remilia asked. When the robed man fell silent, she had her answer and was even more determined in going forward into the cave even as fear began to fill her shivering heart. "Humph. It is settled then. Get out of my way if you wish to live." She said in a threatening tone.

One of the robed men had a trembling hand on his gun, ready to pull it out of its holster. The other one was shaking in fear, prepared to make a run for it. The older man stood silently as his fists shook at his sides. After a brief and tense moment of silence, the older man quickly reached into his robe pocket and pulled out what looked like a small medallion with a pentagram on it that started to glow red when he hastily began to chant in a strange language.

"Big mistake, bub!" Marisa shouted as she pointed her broom at the man then fired off a small blast of blue magic, hitting him directly in the chest and causing him to drop the medallion.

With the man groaning in pain and clutching his burned chest, Remilia sprinted towards him then, with a quick swipe of her hand, sliced his stomach open, spilling his bloodied guts to the ground. He collapsed forward to the ground dead into a pool of his own blood.

"Oh, fuck!" One of the younger men exclaimed in panic as he pulled his gun out. The second he got it pointed at Remilia, it was shot out of his hand by another magical blast from Marisa. He stumbled backwards, holding his burnt hand.

Still holding her cocky grin, Marisa tutted at the man. "I suggest you guys get on out of here before you end up like this guy here." She suggested.

The two younger men looked at one another for a moment then jetted. "Fuck this, I'm out of here!" One of them shouted as they sprinted off.

The other stopped and turned around to face the girls. "You'll pay for this if you intrude on The Dreaming One's domain! Consider that a fair warning!" He shouted then ran to catch up with his comrade.

"Dreaming One?" Marisa said quizzically. With the shrug of her shoulders she returned her broom on top of her right shoulder then walked up beside Remilia, looking at her with disapproval. "Killing the guy was unnecessary y'know." She said.

Remilia huffed then started walking towards the cave's entrance with Marisa right next to her. "He lied to my face. Lied about my sister. She is down there. She's lost down there." Her voice began to tremble as she spoke.

"I know, but still…" Marisa said, looking upset.

Remilia and Marisa stepped foot into the cave and was instantly presented with a set of stairs made out of black rock that lead down into deep darkness. Strangely, a bone chilling wind was trying to pull them into the darkness. The girls' hearts were beating loudly in their chests as they felt a supernatural force pull at their minds. They both looked at one another to see that they both were pale faced. They looked back down into the darkness then swallowed hard.

"Are you sure Flan is down there?" Marisa asked. She cursed to herself when Remilia nodded, not liking the answer at all.

"We will need to stay vigilant when down there. I… I do not know what we could run into." Remilia said gloomily. She was terrified at what they could find, as was Marisa.

Marisa nodded. "Let's find that trouble maker before I lose my mind. This place is REALLY freaking me out now." She said.

"Alright. Stay focused and be ready for anything." Remilia said and with that, she and Marisa began their decent into the dark depths of the island.

Remilia and Marisa continued to be pulled down the stone steps by the eerie wind. They were forced the fight the wind to keep from tumbling forward. The wind itself caused an unholy howl that echoed from deep within the abyss, rattling their souls. The girls trembled while the light from the entrance slowly dimmed behind them. They remained silent, needing to concentrate on staving off their fears, but no matter what they did, they could not shake off the feeling that something was watching them, that something was aware of their presence and was waiting for them deep within the darkness. They could feel whatever it was breathing down their necks, smelling their scent, tasting their fear. Their beating hearts were all they could hear along with the howling wind as they descended deeper into the island. Deeper into a sunken world of drowned horrors. Deeper into an alien darkness that suffocated one's sanity. Deeper into the nightmare corpse city of R'lyeh.


	9. Chapter 9 The Descent Into R'lyeh

Remilia and Marisa reached the bottom of the stone steps, coming to what looked like a long dark bridge of black stone that lead further into darkness. Marisa had her crystal light to help banish some of the darkness away, but the eerie atmosphere seemed to drain the light from it, diminishing its usefulness. The air remained cold and wet with a lingering scent of salt water. Ocean waves could still be heard, but not from above but from further below them. The shivering wind continued to hound them.

Marisa picked up a rock and tossed it off the bridge to judge how high up they were. She waited for the sound of the rock hitting the bottom for a good while, but no sound was ever heard. She let out a disgruntled sigh. "How are we supposed to find Flandre in this forsaken place, ze? All I can see is black and more black." She squinted her eyes in a futile attempt to see the ending of the stone bridge. "Yup. Nothing but black down that way. Maybe I should just fire off a Master Spark so we can get an idea to where exactly we are." She suggested.

Remilia rubbed an itch from her nose, the scent of salt water bothering her. "That sounds like a fine idea, Marisa. Alert every single thing down here to our presence. I do not see anything wrong with that plan at all." She said in a sarcastic tone.

Marisa emitted a short aggravated growl at Remilia. "Well, do you have any other ideas, smart ass?" She said rudely.

"Just keep walking. This bridge has to end eventually." Remilia said.

"Yeah? And then what?" Marisa asked.

"Then…" Remilia went silent, not having a plan in mind yet. She had no idea how she was going to find Flandre in this dark place when she herself could barely see a few feet ahead of her. A slight yet annoying pain in her head that was slowly growing in intensity was not helping with her concentration. She scanned around her in a desperate attempt to spot something in the darkness. She could only assume they were in a large open cavern based on the presence of the wind.

Marisa was cupping her ear as she leaned close to Remilia. "Eh? I can't hear you. Could you repeat your brilliant plan please, ze?" She asked plainly.

A shade of pink appeared in Remilia's cheeks. "I-I'll think of something. You just keep walking."

Marisa sighed once again in distraught. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all." She said.

Remilia glanced over at Marisa from the corner of her eye curiously. "Hmm? Is this place bothering you that much?"

"No no it's something else. You remember the oni, Yuugi, talking about youkai mysteriously disappearing in the Underworld?" Marisa asked.

"I do." Remilia answered.

"From what that creep had said Reimu is involved with an incident down there. What are the odds of an alien horror being involved as well?" Marisa said.

Remilia stopped walking as did Marisa. She had not given it much thought until now. "It is a frightening high possibility." She replied.

"That would make two big-time horror appearances in Gensokyo in just the last few days. Three if the one controlling Patchouli also ends up being one, ze." Marisa said worriedly.

Remilia nodded. "It would seem we have a lot of work ahead of us. We will need to team up with Reimu and deal with the horrors one at a time."

"That's a given. But what I want to know is why are these things suddenly appearing? And in Gensokyo of all places." Marisa wondered.

"The robed man had said that the horror under my mansion, Eihort, was to awaken at a specific event. We apparently had stopped that event over a year ago."

"You mean when those other horrors appeared. What event would that be?" Marisa asked curiously.

"The end of the world, of course." Remilia said while maintaining a calm expression.

Marisa looked surprised. "Eh? Well yeah, I guess we did, didn't we?" She said then let out a chuckle, feeling a little embarrassed for having to have asked. Her chuckling ceased as a puzzled expression appeared on her face. "Wait a minute. Since that thing awoke this time… does that mean the end of the world is happening right now?"

Remilia shrugged her shoulders. "That is all I can assume based on the information that cryptic man gave me. Of course how exactly it is ending is another question."

Marisa frowned. "Well that's… disheartening to say the least."

Remilia chuckled as she took enjoyment in the gloomy expression Marisa was displaying. "Oh? You are usually much more energetic than this even when in the face of danger, little Marisa. Have you finally learned when you should be fearful?" She asked slyly.

Marisa put on her angry face and glared down at the still chuckling Remilia. "Don't give me that. You're just as scared of those things as I am so don't try acting all tough, da ze." She said stiffly.

Remilia agreed with her in the inside, but was not about to show it. She shrugged her shoulders and with a cocky grin present on her face. "They are just monsters like any other, dear Marisa. I learned that the last time we encountered them. I thought you had as well. Pity you have not." She said coolly.

Marisa was growing increasingly angrier, but she quickly rebound with a cocky grin of her own. "Really now, ze? Then why don't we go find whatever killed your dad? See just how 'not scared' you can be." Marisa suggested cruelly.

Remilia was both horrified and enraged by the challenge. "Don't make such arrogant challenges, witch." She sneered.

Marisa was surprised at how angry Remilia became from her poorly thought out challenge. She sighed in defeat. She already knew Remilia was as scared as she was. She just wanted to get her to admit it, but she did realize her challenge was a bit mean and was sorry for it. "Alright, fine. Be that way." She said curtly.

"We are getting off track. Finding my sister is a must before we can do anything about the horrors back in Gensokyo. We will find Reimu when we get back. Her help in dealing with the horror possessing Patchouli will be greatly needed." Remilia insisted.

Marisa nodded in agreement. "Gotch'a. But…" She scratched the back of her head nervously before continuing her thought. "I hate to say it, but do you think that guy Joseph could help with Patchouli? I mean he does appear to know more about these kinds of things than we do. I would hate to accidently hurt Patchouli while trying to free her just because we didn't know what we were dealing with, ze." She, to her distaste, suggested.

"I agree that it would be nice to have someone with knowledge about eldritch gods to assist us, but we will not be getting any kind of useful help from that man." Remilia said.

Marisa gave a sad nod. "Yeah I kinda figured…"

They both began their trek across the black stone bridge once again. Listening to the ocean waves that could be heard from the far distance, they tried to find a mind-calming serene within their constant crashing against stone cliffs, but there was no calmness to be found. With each crash of the waves a pulse of pain was felt in their chests. They both felt the paranoid sense that there were eyes within the darkness that surrounded them, watching them with heinous intent and interest. They felt their glares weighing down on them. They fought mentally to keep their morale from diminishing.

Marisa wrapped her arms around her then shivered. "It's weird…" She spoke.

Remilia looked up towards Marisa's face from the corner of her eye when she hadn't continued with her thought, wondering if she was going to continue or not. She wasn't surprised to see that she still held a gloom-filled expression. She wanted to tell her to just go back instead of torturing herself, but she figured she would just be stubborn and insist she was fine so she saved her breath.

After a moment Marisa spoke again. "It's weird… I saw a bunch of messed up things back then like those odd spider… like… things and then that one under your place, but… The one that still gives me nightmares is that guy in yellow. The most human looking one of them all yet it was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. Just can't seem to just forget about that one, da ze…" She said glumly. "What was he called again? The King in Yellow…?" Her question was in a whisper. It almost seemed as if it wasn't directly aimed at anyone.

It was then Remilia began to genuinely worry for Marisa. Even after almost a year she was still very much bothered by her encounter with the evil god then she was letting on. She was, after all, only human.

Marisa felt a sneeze coming on, but to her annoyance, it never came. A bit of snot was building up at the tip of her nose, preparing to drip at any moment. She turned her head to face Remilia. "You remember his name, Remilia? Wasn't it like Hamster or something? Or was it Hast-" She felt a sudden stab of pain in her side before she could finish her sentence, knocking the wind out of her. Groaning in pain and clenching her injured side, she slowly lowered herself to her knees.

Angered and with a shaking fist at her side, Remilia glared down at Marisa, not sorry for suddenly punching her in the side. "Are you stupid, Marisa? Do you not remember what happened the last time when that thing's name was spoken? Do you?!" She asked in an aggressive shout.

With her teeth clenched, Marisa glared at Remilia. Anger mixed in with her pain-filled expression. Remilia had hit her pretty hard. "So I forgot, ze. Doesn't mean you should hit me like that." She said in a haggard voice. Her angry stare remained as he slowly stood back up straight, her legs shaking beneath her. "You think it would kill you to be a little nice to me considering I'm helping you find your little sister. How she or anyone else can stomach your violent temper is a beyond me, ze." She said strenuously.

Remilia realized she had hit her harder than what was necessary. She realized again that hitting her was probably not necessary at all. The truth was that she had hit her not out of anger but out of fear. She feared The Unspeakable One just as much as Marisa if not more, but there was no way she was going to admit to it and stood her ground in the face of Marisa's anger.

Remilia folded her arms across her chest, looking not at all intimidated by the angry glare given to her by Marisa. "I wouldn't have to get so mad at you if you would just think about your words and actions before you spoke or acted them." She said in a stern tone. "And also… You helping me search for my sister does not dismiss your past actions. Your constant pillaging of Patchouli's library will not be forgiven so easily."

"I don't pillage I borrow!" Marisa yelled.

At that moment, almost as if Marisa's own booming voice was the cause, the stone bridge shook violently. The thundering sound of cracking stone washed over them as they were shook to their cores. Unable to keep balance, they both fell forward into each other's arms. They used one another as support as the darkness itself began to shake.

"Wha-What's going on, da ze?!" Marisa shouted over the roaring sound in a panicky voice.

"H-How should I know?!" Remilia shouted her reply.

"You know nothing, ze!" Marisa yelled in frustration.

"Quiet, you!" Remilia spat.

The girls looked down at their feet when they felt their legs suddenly being spread apart. To their shock, the bridge was splitting right beneath them. Stone broke off from the bridge and fell into the deep abyss.

"Ah, shit! That isn't good!" Marisa cried out.

Remilia quickly looked back up at Marisa. "Looks like this place wants us to fly."

Marisa buried her panicked fear and nodded. "Then let's get to fly-"

"Marisa, look out!" Remilia screamed when she spotted an enormous chunk of rock falling from the blackness above them.

She shoved Marisa as hard as she could before she could even get a chance to look up, knocking her off the bridge and into the cold darkness. Remilia prepared to blast the giant stone with a shot of magic, but she could not get her shot off in time and was struck by the falling chunk of stone. Her vision went black as the stone dragged her down into the black abyss below, further down into the unknown.

Marisa remained suspended in the air, clinging to her stomach. She wrenched in pain from the violent shove she received from Remilia, coughing and gasping for air before finally recovering. She first noticed she had lost both her broom and her light crystal before realizing that Remilia was nowhere to be found. She quickly looked around her in search of any signs of the vampire, only to find signs of neither her nor the stone bridge. She found herself floating in the black void all alone. The trembling in the darkness slowly died down before ending completely.

With a distraught expression, she cupped her hands around her mouth then shouted. "Remilia! Remilia, where are you?!" She waited impatiently for a response, but none came. "Damn it, vampire, where are ya?!" She called out again. A small shriek escaped her lips when she heard a sudden and distant roar. The low inhuman roar came from all directions, surrounding her just as the darkness did. Now visibly terrified, she decided to quickly descend into the dark void in hopes of finding where Remilia may have fallen to. "Of all the rotten luck, da ze. First Flandre. Now Remilia." As she slowly descended, her body began to increasingly shake, and not from the cold. Her head began to hurt and her breathing was heavy that would slowly rise in pace. She struggled to keep herself from panicking as the darkness seemed to close in on her the deeper she descended. "Damn it, Marisa, chill out, ze. The dark is something kids are scared of. Not you." She told herself.

After a long descent, Marisa finally touched down on ground. A shock of surprise ran through her body when her foot touched, not having seen the ground coming up below her. The crashing sound of ocean waves was much louder and the scent of the sea stronger. An eerie feeling that the dark around her had gotten darker surfaced in her as she tried desperately to see through the darkness. She grew aggravated from her severely limited vision.

Marisa stomped the ground in frustration. "Damn it all. How the hell am I supposed to get anywhere when I can't even see my own two feet?" She said. She decided to call out for Remilia again. "Remilia! Hey, Remilia!" Her voice echoed, but once again she received no answer. "Damn it. She couldn't have fallen all that far from here." She said. Reluctantly, she started to walk in order to find any trace of Remilia. She was careful where she stepped, but that did not stop her from stepping off an unseen ledge and down into a shallow pool of salty water. She hit the pool with a splash then quickly raced back up to her feet in a panic. "F-Frick!" She cursed.

She was soaked in freezing water and extremely angry. She noticed her hat was missing from her head and began to look for it, her teeth chattering away. She walked around in the shin-high water for not even a minute before nearly giving up on the hat, but she found it in time before she could abandon it. She reached down for it and picked it up.

"What else can make this trip shittier than it already is?" She mumbled angrily as she rang out her hat of water before placing it back on her wet head. She sneezed abruptly. "Guh… I'm gonna die of hypothermia at this rate…" With all of her patience spent and feeling miserable, she pulled out her mini-hakkero then held it with both of her hands at her hip. "I need some damn light around here. Don't care what I end up disturbing, ze. Should be able to get Remilia's attention with this." She took aim at the dark nothingness then thrusted her hands forward as she called out her attack. "Master Spaaaarrrrk!"

A radiant beam of magical light fired from her hakkero and into the darkness. A large area around her was illuminated for a short time, but enough for her to get a picture of the area she was in. Before her beam of light disappeared into the distance, she could see that she was partially surrounded by a wall of what used to be part of the stone bridge they were walking across before it collapsed. She flew up on the wall of stone rubble then fired off another Master Spark to get sight of the other side. The stone ground was flat and stretched out further into the dark reaches of the underground world, but she saw no evidence of Remilia.

"Damn it, girl, where are you?" Marisa said worriedly.

She hopped off the wall of broken stone and down onto the smoothed out floor. She started walking, but stopped when she stepped on something. She stepped off of it then crouched down to pick it up. What she found was Remilia's cap. It was wet and torn and appeared to have what looked like green slime on it as well as a bit of blood. Having found only Remilia's cap and not her, she became increasingly worried and upset. As she picked it up, she noticed that the black stone floor had strange symbols on it. She observed the oddly drawn symbols, but did not recall having seen anything like them before. Oddly enough, they seemed to give off a very slight green glow. She started to look around the floor for more traces of Remilia. She came upon some slime on the floor, the same slime that was present on the cap. She bent down to touch it before noticing a foot print in it. The foot print was that of a boot and definitely did not belong to Remilia. Looking forward, she saw more footprints leading away from her. She stood up straight then fixed her hat. With a stern expression, she pushed away her fear as much as she could and followed the footprints in hopes that they lead to Remilia.

"_Looks like there really are other people down here. Wonder if they found Remilia and if so… What the hell would they want with her? Can't help but think that they are up to no good." _Marisa thought.

The slime footprints led to what looked like a small square building in the middle of nowhere that was carved out of the same black stone that made up the floor and the bridge before. More of the strange symbols were covering it. The footprints led into an open door that, strangely, led into a hallway. Marisa walked around the building fully, not understanding how a long hallway could possibly exist in it. She assumed the doorway has acting as some kind of magical portal more than a normal entryway. She stood in front of the entrance, feeling the ghostly wind pulling at her from within. She cautiously entered the hallway and began walking down it.

Marisa wrapped her arms tightly around her as she desperately tried to warm herself up. Her face had gone light-blue, showing just how cold she was. Her non-stop shivering made it hard for her to think. She tried to refrain from looking at the alien symbols that covered the walls, floor, and ceiling of the hallway. Every time she would look at them, she would feel her already mind-numbing headache get worse and her vision fuzzy. She could have sworn they were whispering to her. She convinced herself she was simply imagining things and thus dismissed the notion, but the whispering persisted.

"This place is finally getting to me…" She said before letting out a sneeze that was followed by a groan.

After several minutes of walking and shivering, she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps up ahead. She stopped to listen, biting down on her teeth to silent their chattering. There was nothing she could do about the loud beating of her heart. She stood her ground as the sound drew closer and closer. Soon the sound of tattered cloth could be heard dragging across the stone floor. Her heart pounded faster in her chest as sweat began to run down her face. She pulled out her mini-hakkero and held it firmly in her right hand.

Marisa could see nothing within the dark hallway. "H-Hello?" Her greeting came out stifled and suppressed from growing fear, forcing her to clear her throat and try again. "Hello? Who's there, ze?" She asked. No reply came, but the sound of wind blowing through tattered cloth was growing louder. She subconsciously took a step back. She pointed her hakkero towards the darkness and at whatever lied within it. "Y-You better answer me, buddy. I swear I'll blast ya if you don't." Again there was no reply. Try as she might to beat her fear and stand her ground, her legs would betray her, taking a few more steps backwards. Her fear and impatience from the lack of an answer got the best of her when she screamed. "Answer me now or I'll spark you straight to hell!" She was too terrified to realize she had yelled. She did not bother waiting for a reply this time and immediately began to charge up her hakkero. "I warned you. Now die! Master Sp-" Marisa's fear-induced attack was halted when a figure stepped out of the darkness and into her sights. She became consumed in overwhelming terror as she recognized the figure immediately.

The figure was completely covered in tattered yellow rags as they flapped violently from the chilling wind. On his face was a silver pallid mask with two empty eye sockets present. She felt her soul being sucked into the non-existing eyes as the being stared back at her. On his head was a heinously magnificent pointy yellow crown. His arms were hidden underneath the yellow cape made from the same tattered rags that made up the rest of his uniform he had wrapped around his person. A horrid dark red haze poured off his body, coating the black floor with its eerie glow. The being was seemingly floating towards her in a ghost like fashion.

Marisa's hakkero slipped through her fingers and to the ground as she gaped in horror. "No… No way… How can you be here?" She said in a badly cracked voice.

As she continued to stare at the figure in yellow in utter disbelief, her vision began to go in and out of focus. Her pupils were shrunk and petty. The light in her eyes gone. All the color in her face had been sucked out. The hallway itself looked as if it was beginning to twist and bend. She felt her stomach trying to force its contents up to her throat, but she managed to keep it down. An agonizing migraine erupted in her brain and her heart felt as if it could burst out of her chest at any second. A trickle of blood was flowing from one of her ears. She wanted to turn around and run from the being, but her body was completely frozen in place. It would not obey her even as she screamed at it to move in her head. She resorted to cursing at it as the distance between her and the being became smaller. It didn't take long for her to become consumed in hysteria as all of her past nightmares reemerged in her mind.

"This isn't fair! What did I do to you to have you show up here, huh?! I didn't do anything to you, so fuck off, ze!" Marisa shouted at the being. She was drowning in terror and rage. Thinking straight was impossible for her now, so she did the only logical thing she was still mentally capable of doing and that was to flee and get as far away from the rag-covered figure as she could. She became maddeningly angry at her body when she found it refusing to move as she wished. "Move, damn you! Move!" She shouted at her legs.

An arm covered in yellow tattered rags appeared from underneath the being's cape. He reached out for Marisa with a hand clad in a black gauntlet. Just before he could grab her, her legs finally unfroze, letting her do a quick about-face and run in the direction she came from.

Marisa fled in her terror, but she did not get far. She let out a gasp when the horrible being appeared out of nowhere in front of her. "Ahhh! Damn you!" She shrieked then turned around and ran back in the other direction. Again she came face to face with the being in yellow.

Marisa looked behind her to see him approaching from behind and faced back forward to see him approaching from the front as well. Pinned between the two horrible manifestations, she was left with no other choice but to try and fight back. She held out the palm of her hand and shot a blast of blue magic. The shot traveled through the air and towards its target. A bit of confidence came back to her in the form of a trembling grin while she watched as her attack was about to hit the evil god, but it was only an ill-gotten confidence as the magical shot passed harmlessly through the terrible being. Her entire body was going numb from the total hopelessness that was quickly taking over her. She trembled fiercely as the two figures in yellow slowly closed in on her, her jaw still hanging in mind-wrenching horror. She found herself in an impossible situation and because of that, a fear-induced rage began to cloud her already wrecked thoughts.

She managed to force her mouth closed in order to clench her teeth in her insane anger. "You think I'm just gonna roll over and die? I can't die! I still have things to learn. Books to read. Experiments to perform and mushrooms to test." She stated in her mad outrage. She raised both of her hands with the palms facing the dark figure in front of her. "Keep coming! I'll just keep blasting you until you finally die!" She yelled.

Marisa fired continuous blasts of blue magic at the figure in yellow with reckless abandon. Over and over again the hallway would be lit up by the blue light that flashed with every blast she fired. Her relentless attack proved to only serve as a light show as every shot passed through the evil being. She continued to fire regardless in her fit of insanity. Screaming mindlessly, she pointed one of her hands at the manifestation that was closing in on her from behind and started shooting at it, but her shots again would pass through. After several seconds of constant shooting, she ceased her pointless attack and reached into her pocket with her quivering hands. She pulled out several spell cards, but she lost her grip on them and they all fell to the ground. She whimpered as she fell to her knees and tried to pick up a spell card in order to use it. Her vision had become far too distorted to even pick up a single spell card as they would seem to stretch out from her reach. She vomited abruptly onto the stone floor then vomited a second time. Everything around her appeared to spin and deform. Everything but the figure in yellow. The hallway spun rapidly around them as he approached her. Mentally incapacitated, all she could do was watch as the being clenched his fist then pulled it back. The last thing she saw before everything went black was that of a metal-clad fist being thrown towards her.

* * *

Remilia felt her consciousness slowly return as her eyes flickered. She remembered being struck by the giant rock, but everything after that was just a blank. She wondered how long she was unconscious for. Her head pounded painfully and her body ached. She moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but it slowly corrected itself. She tried moving her arms only to find that they were chained as well as he legs. She was chained up and spread-eagled up against the black stone wall of a dark room. Her dress was wet and torn in places. Blood stains were present on it as well.

"She's awake, Father Anton."

She heard the raspy voice of a man. She concentrated on focusing her vision as she tried to see the source of the voice. Finally her vision became clear and she could see the man dressed in a black robe and wearing a black mask like the men she and Marisa had come across on the surface of the island. Another robed man entered the room, but he wore no such mask. He was an old man, gray haired and wrinkled face. His eyes were blue, lightless and dull.

The old man, Anton, had a reserved appearance about him as he glared at her. "So she has." He said in a voice that matched his age. With his arms crossed behind him, he approached her. "You took quite a nasty fall, miss. May I ask how you are feeling now?" He said with no change in his stern expression. His words lacked any emotion in them.

Remilia glared back at the man. "As good as any woman would feel chained up like this." She said curtly.

The old man let out a haggard chuckle. "Now, ma'am. There is no need to get worked up over a few chains. It was for the protection of me and my people. Can't be too careful around a vampire now can we?" He said with a sly look.

Remilia smirked. "A smart man. A rarity these days." She said. "Then again, you are a fool if you think such things can hold me in place for long." With a simple jerk of her wrist, she snapped the metal cuffs on her right wrist followed by the one on her left. She elegantly landed on the stone floor then reached down to tear off the metal cuffs on her ankles. She stood up straight and faced the man.

Anton let out a short chuckle. "Oh, of course not, Miss. I am quite aware that more is needed to keep a mighty creature of the night like you bound." His calm expression turned into a slightly angered one as he glared strongly at Remilia. "But enough about that. What I need to know is why such a being is here in such a place. I must say this is quite a shock to meet a vampire here in R'lyeh. This is not a place easily found just by anybody."

"R'lyeh? So that is the name of the city." Remilia said with a nod, making sure to remember the difficult word.

"Yes. Now tell me why you are here." Anton said in a demanding tone.

Remilia huffed. "I will be the one asking the questions from this point on and my first question is why is there a group of humans prancing about in this accursed city? Tell me." She said demandingly.

To her annoyance, Anton appeared to be not intimidated by her in the slightest. He appeared to be more insulted than anything, but his stiff expression loosened when he grinned. "What a sad fool you turned out to be. Much like that other vampire we found." He said.

Remilia quickly formed a glowing red spear then pointed it at the old man. She was clenching her teeth in anger. "Just as I suspected. You people have found my sister. Hand her over to me and I will make your deaths quick and maybe painless." She strongly demanded.

Anton narrowed his eyes at her, detesting her threat. He loosened up his bitter expression. "So the blond one is your sibling?" He chuckled dryly. "Now what are the odds of us finding two vampires here in this place? I am having trouble deciding if I should consider myself lucky or not." He said.

"You may consider yourself dead in a second if you do not bring my sister to me this instant." Remilia scowled. She had little patience stored up ever since Flandre decided to run off. She needed little reason to run her spear through the old man.

He glared menacingly at her. "Of course… Miss Vampire…" He conceded.

He turned to the robed man beside him and gestured to him. The masked man nodded then left the room, returning shortly with a blond girl beside him, along with a number of other robed men. Flandre's eyes were devoid of any life as she stared out into nothing. She appeared stuck in a trance with her empty expression.

Joy appeared on Remilia's face when she saw her precious sister. "Flandre!" She called out to her.

She went to rush to her side, but was suddenly stopped by a sudden unbearable stab of pain in her chest. The pain was so intense that she lost grip of her spear, letting the energy that shaped it dissipate. The mind-shredding pain brought her to her knees as she clenched her chest. It felt as someone had taken a hot metal stake and jammed it into her heart. With her face contorted from the agony, she let out a loud groan of pain as her heart felt as if it was being eaten from the inside.

"Ahhrg! Ahh! What is…?!" Her throat strained from the pain when she tried to speak.

Anton formed a dark grin. "Oh did you… Did you think I was actually going to give her back to you?" He said slyly. "Heh… You poor little fool. I will do no such thing." He approached Remilia then crouched down in front of her. She reached out to grab him by the throat, but her strength was drained by the pain she was suffering from, allowing him to easily grab her by the wrist. He shoved her, causing her to fall backwards onto her behind. "You even thought I did not take precautions in case you decided to get a little violent. I already knew that you would. I was told a vampire with light-blue hair had shown up and murdered one of my followers. I cannot let such a crime go unpunished." He said then stood back up. He looked down at the squirming vampire with disgust-filled eyes.

Remilia lay on the flat of her back, her body jerking and twisting from the horrible pain. Her blood felt as if it was boiling within her veins. "Wah! Wha… Wha… What did… did you do… to me?! Wahhh! Errrah!" She shrieked in an extremely hoarsely voice. It hurt her for every word she spoke.

"Nothing sophisticated. I placed a little alien grub inside you the moment we found you crushed in that pile of rock. It then quickly made a nest right inside your tainted heart. It is feeding on it from within and soon it will give birth to more of its kind, causing your heart to burst. Not a good way for a vampire to die I must say." Anton said maliciously. "But not to worry, Miss Vampire. You will not live long enough to experience the pain and suffering of that fate. You see, to answer your question from before, me and my men here are part of an organization that is tasked with watching over the unholy city of R'lyeh, making sure nothing comes out of it and keeping idiots like you from entering. Of course we are a bit lacks on that last part. You see, there is a certain seal in place here. A seal to keep a certain dead god trapped here. That seal needs maintenance from time to time. The resource we use for this maintenance you ask? Souls. Souls of any person who decides on making the foolish choice of entering this god-forsaken place." He walked over beside the bewitched Flandre then placed his hand on top of her head. "We found your sister here just wondering aimlessly above ground. Too my luck her mind was weak, enabling me to lock her in within her own mind without much hassle." His glare at Remilia turned dark and sinister. "I would have done the same to you, but your mind is much too powerful for that. So I went with the grub to render you helpless and nonthreatening." He glanced down at Flandre with a smile and started to caress the top of her head. "Such a cute sister you have here. A shame we have to kill her and use her soul to help repair the damaged seal." He looked towards Remilia with an evil smile. "But don't you worry, vampire. You will be joining her."

Remilia fought a desperate battle against the never-ending pain that pulsated from her heart. She struggled to her feet, managing to get to them before falling forward to her knees. She glared immensely at Anton and slowly crawled towards him.

"Get… Get your hands… off… my sister!" She demanded. It took everything she had just to speak. The robed men laughed at her miserable and nonthreatening voice. "As the head of the Scarlet Family… I swear I'll kill you… but… but not after I skin you all alive!" She threatened.

Curiosity overtook Anton's expression. "Scarlet? Did you say the Scarlet Family?" He asked eagerly. He began rubbing his chin as he thought to himself. "Scarlet. Scarlet. Now I know I have heard that name somewhere before…" After a moment of thinking, his face lit up. He looked towards Remilia then began to laugh. "My Lord in heaven… Am I really in the presence of vampires who are part of the Scarlet bloodline?" He laughed heartily in disbelief. He ceased his laughter then walked over to Remilia and looked down at her as she continued to try and crawl towards Flandre, reaching out to her in a desperate bid to touch her. "Tell me, Scarlet Vampire. Are you related to a vampire by the name of Victor Scarlet?"

Remilia's eyes shot wide open from hearing the name, a name she herself had not heard spoken for very long time. "My… My father…" Her thoughts escaped through her lips.

The old man burst out laughing once more. He looked back over his shoulders at his men. "Well now isn't this sweet, fellas. We are about to help these two pretty little girls be reunited with their daddy." He stated. The other men began laughing cruelly.

Remilia forced herself to look up at Anton's face. "Wh-What… do you mean by that?" She asked in her strained voice.

The old man crouched down in front of her then cupped her chin in his hand. He stared intently into her pain-filled eyes. "One of my descendants had to deal with an ignorant vampire by the name of Victor Scarlet long ago. He and a female vampire killed many of his men in a mad bid to enter the city. Of course… that fool met his end by the hands of the dead god he managed to set free. It is hard for me to feel sorry for anyone who trespasses here and dies. They never realize the dangers they could put the Earth in, just as your father did that day. In the end he paid the ultimate price and now his soul lies imprisoned deep within R'lyeh with countless others." He said then released her chin.

Remilia's face turned red as she became horrifically enraged. She was clenching her teeth hard enough to cause blood to drip from her mouth. She felt great shame and despair from the terrible truth, having never known that the entire time she has been living leisurely in her mansion, her father was trapped inside the dreaded city. She could not stop the tears from flowing from her eyes. She was now determined to the end to free him as well as ending Anton's life, along with all those who follow him.

Anton stood back up then headed for the room's exit. "To think you came here just to meet the same fate your father did… Your sister will be first to be used in the ritual followed by you." He said to Remilia with his back turned to her, having absolutely no sympathy for her.

"What do we do with her in the meantime, Father Anton?" One of the masked men asked.

"Humph. I don't care what you do with that thing." Anton said sourly. He tapped Flandre on the head then exited the room with her mindlessly following behind him.

The group of masked men looked at one another as they contemplated. One of them walked up to Remilia whose head was hung low. He crouched down then viciously grabbed her by the hair. She shrieked as he pulled her up by her hair. Tears were still flowing from her eyes, unable to stop thinking of both her father's and her sister's terrible predicaments.

The masked man laughed wickedly. "Heh heh! I told you that you would be sorry now didn't I?" He cackled.

"What you plan on doing with her?" One of the other masked men asked.

Remilia could hear heavy breathing underneath the mask of the man holding her by the hair. "What do you think, you idiot? It would be an awful shame if we kill her without at least giving her a good time first. Too bad we couldn't give her sister one, but oh well. Sucks for her." He said giddily. He threw Remilia to the ground then grabbed the front of her dress. With one forceful yank, he tore the front of her dress, exposing her small breasts.

A horrified shock appeared on Remilia's face. "You son of a bitch!" She screamed then tried to slash the masked man's face with her nails, but she could not produce enough strength to even cut through the mask. She tried again with all of her might, but all she managed to do was cause herself more pain.

The group of masked men laughed cruelly as a couple of others let out catcalls.

"Ha ha! Line up, gentlemen, and wait your turn. I get the first go." The masked man hovering over Remilia said as he stared at her through his mask with lust filled eyes.

"Like hell. Father Anton might be back before we all get a turn. Go three at a time. She has the holes for them." One masked man suggested as he and the other men surrounded Remilia. A cheer came in response of his suggestion.

Remilia watched helplessly on her back as she was surrounded by the masked men. They laughed at her as they planned dark things for her. She was unable to summon even the littlest of magical power, leaving her defenseless and scared. She looked up at the masks that stared down at her with their dark green tinted eyes one after another, looking into each mask with immense scorn.

"Don't act so scared, vampire. I'm sure a little whore like you can handle all of us just fine." One man said waspishly.

"It won't be blood you'll be drinking tonight!" Another man said sardonically, earning a laugh from the other guys.

"Consider this payback for killing one of our senior brothers up on the surface." One masked man said pettishly.

"You really are a stupid fucking vampire, you know that?" One of the masked men stated. Remilia was enraged more by this man's words for they were tainted with pity. She could even feel the pity from his eyes behind the mask. She decided he would be the first of the lot to die.

The masked man hovering over top of her chuckled. "I just wanted to fuck your lights out the second I saw you up there at the cave entrence." He said facetiously.

Unwillingly submitting to the torture that was headed for her, Remilia concentrated all of her hatred at the masked men as she glared at them unwaveringly. She would not cry or beg them to stop, but to plan what abominable things she would do to each one once she was inevitably free from the thing in her heart. "You sons of whores better enjoy yourselves while you can for you will all be feeling far worse pain than I am soon enough." She sneered, earning only a dark laugh from the group of cultists.


	10. Chapter 10 Into The Arms Of Madness

With a grub from another world tormenting her from within her beating heart and keeping her incapacitated, Remilia was left with no way to defend herself from the group of robed cultists. Two were standing to her left and two on her right. One was leaning right over top of her, staring down at her and breathing obscenely behind his mask. Right behind him was two more cultists, leaving the total number of robed men at seven. All were eager to ravage her to their sick delight, to violate her body and break her will. To remedy the situation she told herself repeatedly that they would all pay for their crime later, convincing herself she would be free from the unbearable pain brought on by the alien grub in due time. She hoped that would be the case and was determined to hold on to that hope. She knew if that hope were to die then Flandre would die along with it.

The first cultist hovering over top of her started to chuckle sadistically before speaking. "Oh, man. This is going to be great. I don't even know where to start with you." He said excitedly to Remilia.

"You can start by getting out of the way if you don't hurry the hell up and start fucking her. We all like a little vampire pussy as well." The second and biggest man of the group said impatiently as he gave the man on top of Remilia a shove.

The first cultist turned his head and stared angrily at the one who pushed him. "Have some patience, brother. Moments like this need to be savored to its fullest." He insisted.

"Alright, you scrawny dope. This is me being patient." The second cultist said then shoved the man off of Remilia, taking his place.

The first cultist tumbled to the ground then quickly got back up. "What the hell?! You can just wait your turn!" He shouted angrily.

"Whatever." The second cultist dismissed the angry stare the first was giving him and instead focused on the defiant stare Remilia was giving him.

"Hmph. Better get started finding that bug of yours before the others grow impatient with you as well." She said bitterly.

The second cultist roughly grabbed her by her torn dress then held her face up to his. "Cute, vampire. You just keep cracking insults. I'll be tearing into your cunt in the meantime." He said coolly.

He dropped Remilia, letting her hit the hard floor with a thud. He then flipped her over onto her stomach. He propped her up onto her knees then threw her dress up, exposing her black stringed-panties. The other cultists cheered as he grabbed them and tore them off of her, exposing her bare bottom. She clenched her teeth and fists tightly, holding in a tear of shame as her womanhood was shown to all to see. The cultist licked the palm of his hand once, held it back then slapped it across her behind with a loud smack. She yelped from the sudden stinging pain on her right butt-cheek. Another round of cheers and applause erupted from the other cultists.

"Hey hey hey! I already called first dibs on her so get out of the way!" The first cultist shouted then tried to push the second out of the way, but to his frustration he was pushed back.

"You won't be fucking anything if you lay another hand on my, you little shit." The second cultist threatened, but retained a calm composure, feeling no threat from his smaller cult brother.

"It was my idea in the first place so I should get the first go!" The first cultist complained loudly.

"Oh, please. We all were thinking of it. And if you two keep on bullshitting then none of us will be getting anything." The third cultist said casually as he walked between the feuding cultists, making his way to the front of Remilia. He got down on his knees then grabbed a hold of her by her hair, forcing her to look up at him. He chuckled at the death-stare she was giving him. "Allow me to fuck that defiant little face off of ya." He said menacingly.

He unbuckled his belt then unzipped his black pants. He pulled out his already erect dick then flashed it in front of Remilia. She quickly pulled her face back in disgust. The second cultist behind her grabbed her by the head and forced her to face forward.

"Open wide for daddy now." The third cultist said presumptuously as he grabbed Remilia by the mouth and pulled it open.

She struggled to keep her teeth clenched, but the cultist was slowly able to get them apart to allow entry for his exposed manhood. He pushed the tip of his dick up against her lips and when he got her mouth opened up enough, he shoved himself into her mouth and to the back of her throat.

"Yeeeaaahhh!" A bunch of the other cultists cheered.

The third cultist let out a sigh of pleasure. "Ah yeah, there we go. I'll be gentle if you be a good girl and suck it yourself." He said with a detestable smirk behind his mask.

Remilia's face contorted from the forceful entry of the cultist's dick into her mouth, but she forced a grin regardless. Even with most of her strength drained by the agony inflicted by the grub, she still had enough strength to move her jaw effectively, and that is exactly what she did. With one simple bite, she severed the cultist's hardened dick with the front row of her teeth.

"Oh, dear God!" A random cultist exclaimed in horror as others covered their gaping mouths from the painful sight. Some moaned in pain just from seeing the act.

The unfortunate cultist in question fell backwards screaming in agony, holding onto his bloody crotch. "Waaah! Ahhrg! You! You fucking bitch! You miserable little whore!" He shrieked rancorously as he thrashed around on the floor.

Remilia spat the severed dick out to the side then smirked as blood dripped from her lips. She took joy in all the suffering the cultist was in. "Oh, my. Did my mouth really feel so good that you came hard enough to blow your dick off? Now that is new to me." She joked cruelly.

The third cultist glared at her with immense hatred. "Just kill her! Kill the fucking bitch!" He yelled out then fell back on his back and returned to thrashing around, groaning loudly in pain.

"Well that… Well that leaves her mouth off limits…" The fourth cultist said with a shaky voice. He took a step backwards, now feeling intimidated by the vampire as was the other cultists, saved for the one positioned behind her.

The second cultist grabbed Remilia by the head then smashed her face into the stone floor several times in retaliation for what she did to his fellow cultist. She moaned in pain as blood dripped from her forehead.

"Looks like you are still ready to put up a fight, but…" The second cultist looked down at Remilia's pussy then placed his thumbs on other side of the slit. He spread the lips, exposing her pink insides. He looked around inside her as if looking for something. "It doesn't appear you have any teeth in here, so please surprise me on how you'll fight back this time." He said then unbuckled his own pants and prepared to pull out his own erect penis. He was stopped when the first cultist grabbed him by the shoulder. He turned his gaze towards the distraction. "I'm about to have her bite yours off as well." He said, now sounding irritated.

"Come on, man. Let me have her pussy first. You get her ass." The first cultist said in a pleading voice. The second cultist swatted his arm away.

"If that will shut you up so we can fuck this vampire already then fine, you god damn baby." The second cultist said curtly.

The first cultist chuckled to himself in sick excitement then went to lift Remilia up, but he was shoved to the side by one of the other cultists. "What the hell?" He scoffed at the fifth cultist.

"I'm the one getting her asshole first so I can fuck it dry and rough." The fifth cultist said as he licked his lips underneath his mask.

He and the second cultist unzipped their pants then pulled out their erected genitals. They both then grabbed Remilia and lifted her up. The fifth cultist grabbed underneath her thighs and spread her legs apart with her back to his chest. The second cultist grabbed her dress and pulled it up to fully expose the bottom half of her body then grabbed her by the waist. Remilia's hatred for the cultists caused her to shake, giving them the false impression that she was quivering in fear.

The fifth cultist moved his lips to her ear. "Don't be scared, little vampire. Try to enjoy this. It'll be your only bit of enjoyment before your soul is sealed away forever." He spoke cruelly.

"Hurry the hell up already. Father Anton will be back soon." The sixth cultist said, holding his arms across his chest as he impatiently waited for his turn with Remilia.

"Yeah seriously, I'm about to bust a nut as it is." The fourth cultist stated.

The first cultist crossed his arms in a pout. "I should have the first turn…" He grumbled.

The third cultist was still anguishing around on the floor. "Get… me… some help… you… idiots!" He demanded, speaking slowly from the blood loss, but he soon lost consciousness. None of the other cultists appeared to care.

The second and fifth cultists positioned themselves to penetrate Remilia's vagina and anus. She bit down on her teeth as she waited for the forceful entry, determined not to make any kind of noise that could please the cultists in anyway. She decided she would imagine their deaths at her hands over and over again in her head as they ravaged her in order to lessen the pain and shame. She closed her eyes as the two cultists prepared to push themselves into her.

"What in God's name are you doing?!"

Remilia's eyes shot wide open from the sudden shout. She turned her head to see that the seventh cultist had just grabbed the alien gun that the sixth cultist had strapped to his belt underneath his robe and both were now fighting for possession of it. The other cultists watched in utter confusion, having no idea what was happening before their eyes.

"What the fuck is he doing?" The fifth cultist asked as he watched stunned.

"Give me that fucking thing." The seventh cultist demanded as he punched the sixth cultist in the face of the mask, cracking one of the green eyes and gaining full possession of the gun.

The sixth cultist reached out to grab the gun back that was stolen from him as the seventh loaded up the weapon. "Have you gone mad, brother?! Give that ba-"

The sixth cultist's last words were spoken before the seventh cultist placed the barrel of the gun to his forehead and pulled the trigger. A small blast of green plasma fired from the gun, blowing off a large chunk of the man's head and face in a shower of green sparks and burning flesh and sizzling blood. The other men, as well as Remilia, watched in disbelief as he was flown back from the force of the blast. He hit the ground with a loud thud, blood gushing from the grotesque hole that used to be his face. The body twitched with its last bits of life a few times before stopping completely.

Everyone gaped at the cultist-now-turncoat as he wiped blood that had splashed onto the eyes of his mask off with his arm. Once everything that had just happened finally registered in the other cultists' minds, they are glared angrily at the turncoat.

"You mother fucking traitor!" The fourth cultist yelled then pulled out his own alien weapon from under his robe. He pointed it at the turncoat, but was not fast enough with the trigger and was struck by a plasma shot in the right elbow, severing half of his arm off and forcing him to lose his gun with it. "Waaaahhhh!" He wailed in agony as blood spewed from the wound, being silenced by another plasma shot when it struck him in the chest. A splash of green fire flew out from the point of contact, sending him flying backwards to the floor with a smoking blood-ringed hole in his chest.

The last three cultists still standing stood in horror before collecting themselves. The second and fifth cultists threw Remilia off to the side, sending her crashing into the stone wall. She hit the wall hard with a grunt then fell to the floor. The sudden shock from hitting the stone wall irritated the grub in her heart and caused it to squirm vigorously, hurting her more in the process. She moaned and groaned in anguish, but began to try and get to her feet regardless of the pain. She did not care what was going on at that moment, only thinking about getting to Flandre before it was too late.

The second and fifth cultists quickly tried to fix their pants, but the fifth was not quick enough in getting his hanging dick out from view. He let out a bloodcurdling scream when a blast of plasma flew by and incinerated his penis. He instantly dropped to the floor, kicking and screaming before having the entire left side of his head blown off by a second plasma shot.

"Holy mother of God in heaven…!" The first cultist gasped as he stood trembling in fear.

The second cultist took off towards the seventh cultist in a desperate bid to stop him. The seventh pointed his gun at him and pulled the trigger, but only the sound of metal clicking together was emitted from it.

The turncoat growled in frustration as he glared at the gun. "Alien piece of shit. Made in China as well, I bet." He said, nearly throwing the gun away in disgust.

"I'll kill you with my bare hands, you traitorous fuck!" The second declared as he grabbed a hold of the turncoat's arm then forced him to throw the gun off to the side. With the turncoat's right arm in his grip, he brought his right knee up into his abdomen.

The turncoat let out a grunt as some of the air in his lungs was knocked out of him. He shrugged off the pain and glared angrily at his attacker. "Oh, I'm gonna beat your ass the fuck down for that one." He stated waspishly.

The turncoat threw a left hook towards the second's head. The second used his right arm to block the punch while maintaining some control on his right arm with the left. He pulled his right arm back in an attempt to rip it out of the second's grip, but the second threw himself forward and tackled him to the ground. Just as his back hit the ground he pressed his feet up against the second's chest then launched him over top of him and into the stone wall. He jumped to his feet and got on guard.

The second cultist hit the stone floor with a grunt and was about to quickly jump back to his feet before he saw the alien gun lying next to him. He grabbed it and scrambled to his feet, but the turncoat kicked it out of his hand and out of their reach. He let out a cry of pain when his foot was stomped on, only to be silenced when taking a right hook across the right side of his face. Roaring angrily, he retaliated with a right jab. The turncoat took the hit to the face and was sent backwards, nearly losing his footing. He quickly took advantage of the turncoat's dazed state and wrapped his arm around his neck. The turncoat thrashed around in order to break the headlock he had on him.

The first cultist stood in excited fear, watching mesmerized as the two men pummeled one another. "Oh! Oh, yeah! Break his neck, brother! Break his fucking neck! Do it! Come on!" He obnoxiously cheered the second cultist on.

The second cultist struggled to keep the turncoat in his hold, but was quickly tiring out from all his thrashing around. He looked towards his cheering cult brother. "Get the fucking gun, you retard, and shoot this son of a bitch!" He shouted.

The first cultist jumped in surprise from the shout then nervously began looking around. "O-Oh yeah, sure!" He exclaimed nervously and started searching around for the weapon.

The turncoat was grabbing at the arm that was squeezing tightly around his neck, desperately trying to free himself. "I'll give you two chances to let me go, asshole!" He yelled.

With his right hand he grabbed a hold of the second's groin, latched on firmly and began squeezing with all of his might. The second let out an anguished howl as his testicles were being crushed. With a little more force, he crushed both of the man's testicles in his hand.

"And there they go!" The turncoat shouted.

The second cultist's wail increased in volume from the loss of his family jewels. He lost his grip on the turncoat and fell to his knees, holding onto his groin where horrible pain radiated from. The turncoat stood behind the screaming cultist and grabbed a hold of his chin and head with his hands. With the forceful twist of his head, his neck snapped and was silence.

After watching the second cultist fall lifelessly at his feet, the turncoat looked up to find the first cultist standing in front of him and pointing the alien gun at him and giggling hysterically.

"Ha Haa! Thanks for killing all these idiots for me! Now die, you traitorous pig!" The first cultist shouted then pulled the trigger.

A green plasma blast fired from the barrel and traveled through the air, striking the turncoat square in the chest and exploding into green fire. He cried out in pain as he was blown backwards. He hit the floor with a thud and laid where he fell, seemingly lifeless and unmoving.

The first cultist stared in disbelief. After a few seconds of staring he began to snicker, a snicker that quickly turned into a creepy outburst of laughter. "Yes! Yes, I killed him! I killed the son of a bitch!" He shouted in triumph. He threw the gun off to the side then pointed at the body of the turncoat. "You deserve more than a quick death. Trying to kill us just to have this vampire all to yourself. I know that's what you were after! You can't fool me!" He turned to face Remilia as she had just managed to sit up with her back resting against the wall. He stared intently at her while breathing obscenely. "I was thinking about killing the rest of them myself honestly. No way they deserve to have a vampire like you. Only I do." His voice cracked as he spoke. He scurried over to Remilia, dropped to his knees in front of her and roughly grabbed her by the face with both of his hands. He squeezed both of her cheeks together as he stared freakishly into her eyes. "If you're lucky… Father Anton will spare you and let me keep you. A vampire all to myself! My God, wouldn't that be wonderful?!" He shrieked in his insanity.

Breathless and weak but still defiant, Remilia huffed at the unstable man. "I doubt it. You should be worried about your leader thinking you killed these men." She hissed, but her words fell on deaf ears.

The insanely ecstatic cultist grabbed a hold of his mask and tore it off, revealing his face to Remilia. To her surprise, the man appeared not to be a man at all, looking too young to be one. The insides of his eyes appeared horribly shrouded with a white haze. His rancid breath hit her like a bag of bricks.

"I have trouble seeing people's faces, but not yours! It shines brighter than anything I've ever seen!" He stated with a freakish smile.

Remilia looked away from the young man's face, trying her best to avoid his vile breath directly. She correctly assumed that the boy was completely insane and out of his mind for whatever reason. To her shock, he grabbed a hold of her face and forced her lips to his.

"Mph!" The cultist's nails dug into the sides of her head as she tried to resist and shake away.

She kept her teeth closed together as he tried to force his tongue into her mouth. He remained playfully persistent and giggled lustfully as he continued to try and get his tongue into her mouth. She nearly opened them to let out a yelp when he reached under her dress and grabbed her crotch, his finger piercing into her vagina.

The cultist's depraved moment ended when he felt the hot barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.

"Get your filthy cocksucker off of her." A demanding voice came from behind the cultist.

The cultist ceased molesting Remilia then slowly turned his head to see the turncoat standing right behind him, alive and holding the gun he had carelessly thrown away. He stared dumbfounded, unable to believe the man was still alive.

"You dumb fuckers just don't know when to quit, do ya?" The turncoat asked. "Your sons of bitches are so lucky I'm not at my worst right now."

"B-B-But I hit you right in the chest. Y-Y-You shouldn't even have any lungs to breathe with…" The cultist's voice trembled as he spoke.

The turncoat stood with the gun in his right hand. The robes that had covered his chest had been burned up, showing that he was indeed hit by the plasma blast, but no physical wound save for a large burn on his tanned chest was present. A metal object was now revealed to be hanging from a chain around his neck.

"Hmph. Yeah, ya managed to hit me. Good for you, pal. But it looks like this piece of jewelry makes for a good shield. Sucks to be you." The turncoat said as he pointed a thumb at the circular metal object hanging over his chest.

The lone cultist began to quiver in mind-boggling fear as he stared at the medallion hanging over the turncoat's chest. "Y-Y-You're a-a-a-a worshiper of an-an-an-an Outer God!" He shouted in terror.

"HELL to the fucking NO." The man corrected the cultist bitterly then pulled the trigger.

The last cultist's head popped like a balloon, spraying blood and brain matter everywhere, including over Remilia's breasts. His limp body fell to the blood covered floor at the turncoat's feet.

The turncoat shot the corpse in the chest, putting a hole in it for good measure. "Yippy kyay, mother fucker." He said to the deceased cultist.

Remilia sat with her back against the cold stone wall drawing in labored breaths. She remained physically drained from the excruciating pain in her heart, but she was otherwise able to keep her body from contorting uncontrollably. Sweat ran down her colorless face and her mouth remained blood coated. The turncoat who had just killed his comrades was looking down at her silently. She remembered him looking down at her with pity-filled eyes before and now he was staring at her with that same stare once again. She glared defiantly up at him, not thinking for a second that he had killed the others for her benefit. She was convinced he was still going to harm her. She glanced over at the gun he held in his hand for a moment and thought if she could just get her hands on it she could use it to kill him and go save her sister. She barely had any strength, but she could still pull the trigger with her finger. She thought it beneath her to use such an unsavory weapon, but she was in no position to be fussy.

She huffed. "Was it really worth all that trouble just so you could have me all to yourself?" She asked in a strained voice. She did not get an answer when she expected it and grew irritated as the man continued to stare down at her in silence.

"I donno. You tell me, Remilia." The man said after a moment, ending his silence.

"Why were you so silent? Too busy thinking about how exactly you will have your way with me? Just get on with it already, you despicable swine." She scoffed. "That old man might return soon and you will lose your chance at having me." She sneered at the masked man when he didn't reply to her taunt.

She needed to get the man within reach so she could try and steal his weapon away from him. She thought once she got it away from him, she would blow a hole straight into his chest and suck the blood out from his heart directly.

That's when she saw it, the metal object that hung idly around the masked man's neck. Her eyes became fixated on the medallion and nothing else. Her vision wavered the instant she recognized the horrible symbol that was engraved in it. She tried to blink several times, convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her, but her eyelids refused to even move. Her already aching mind pounded relentlessly when the vision of a crowned figure covered in yellow tattered cloth flashed before her eyes. She could not believe that she was staring at The Yellow Sign Medallion, the same medallion she was sure was still locked safely in her father's old study room. She tried telling herself that it was a fake, but the resemblance to the one once worn by a young man she once knew was too much.

The masked man crouched down in front of her, his eyes glued to hers. Her eyes finally blinked then focused on the eyes hidden behind the mask. She stared into them with terrified bewilderment.

"H-How…? How do you have that?" She asked as calmly as she could force herself to.

The man tilted his head slightly, not sure what she was talking about at first, but quickly figured it out. "Oh, this." He said as he held up The Yellow Sign Medallion. He looked at the medallion then back at her. "The real question is… Why the fuck did you still have this?" He asked loudly and rudely.

Remilia gritted her teeth, angry with the way the man was speaking to her. "That belongs to me now tell me how you became to possessing it. Tell me now!" She shouted her demand. She squirmed a little in pain as the grub in her heart thrashed around for a moment before settling back down.

The man chuckled curtly. He held the medallion up to her face. "You and me both know who this really belongs to… and that prick in yellow is not in this room." He said.

Remilia stared at the heinous symbol on the medallion. Her angered expression turned to one of discomforting confusion. She was surprised to hear that the man knew who the medallion truly belonged to. She was also surprised to realize that the man spoke in a manner she found to be frightfully familiar. She looked past the medallion and at the mask that looked back at her.

"Wh-Who are you?" She asked breathlessly.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Remilia? You. Your sister. And that other moron whose name I can't remember." The man said in an angry tone. "Have you all finally lost your minds?"

Remilia sneered at the rude man, too frustrated and angry to realize that her breasts were still out in view for the man to see. "Don't just ignore my question like that, you worthless human. I'm the Scarlet Devil and you WILL answer me trustfully or I'll make your fate too horrible to behold!" She yelled hoarsely. "Youch!" She yelped when the man suddenly flicked her right nipple, bringing a painful tear to her eye.

"Too late. I'm already boned." The man said plainly.

"How dare you touch me!" Remilia shouted, only to cause the alien grub to become agitated, causing her agony in return.

"Blow me." The man jeered.

He attached his gun to his belt then reached out for Remilia, putting his left arm under her knees and his right arm under her back. She quickly began thrashing around in his arms, only for the grub in her heart to force her to stop with some more pain. She moaned from the jab of pain as she was lifted up in the man's arms.

She began to lose focus as the grub ate not only on her life but her psyche. "D-Don't touch me… Put… Put me down…" She demanded weakly and looking a bit dazed.

"I don't care if you want to get yourself killed, but you do that back in that dream world. Not here." The man said sternly. He roughly readjusted Remilia in his arms to secure a firm hold on her then looked forward at the exit of the room.

"What are you doing?!" She exclaimed, angry with the way he was handling her.

"Saving you from your own stupidity. We find that cocksucking occultist then get out of Fucksville." He said.

"Why? Why are you helping me? Who are you?" She asked in almost a begging manner.

"You saved me once before so I'm just returning to favor. That's it, so just shut up and let me figure out a game plan in finding that asshat without getting us killed." The man said then began to ponder to himself.

Remilia was completely drowned in bemused fear. She demanded to know who the man was now. She already had an idea, but tried to convince herself it was impossible. She needed to be sure though, too help assure herself that she wasn't slowly going mad. As the man stared forward, lost in his own thoughts, she reached out with her trembling hand. The second her hand touched the mask, he jerked his face away.

"Don't." He told her.

"I have to know." She insisted.

"No you don't. You don't need to know anything. You should never even have come here in the first place, Remilia. I shouldn't have needed to come here and drag your little ass out." He said angrily.

Remilia stared into the mask intently with a determined expression. "I have to know if I indeed failed. To know if I was able to sever that string of fate or not. So many things I need to know and your face will tell me what those things are." She said sternly.

The man stared into the demanding scarlet eyes that looked up at him for a moment before speaking. "Stupid vampire…" He said with a sigh, giving into the demand of the vampire in his arms.

Remilia reached for the mask and gripped it the best she could. Fighting against the pain in her chest, she summoned enough strength to pull off the mask from the man's face. She lost grip on the mask when her suspicion was terribly correct, allowing it to fall to the black stone floor. She did not look surprised to see brown colored eyes staring back at her, but sad.

With the mask gone, she found herself looking at a man with a young appearance, showing him to be in his late teens or early twenties. She easily recognized his scruffy hair whose color matched that of his eyes. His Turkic ancestry was obvious to her.

The man let out another sigh. "And now what was supposed to be my final memory of you has been ruined…" He spoke with a sad smile.

She looked on the familiar young man with a sorrowful expression. She could not force herself to be happy looking at the handsome face, knowing too well that his presence could only mean terrible things. She knew his presence meant that the madness was not yet over and that the world was once again in great peril. It was further proof that the renewed appearances of Cosmic Horrors in Gensokyo were far from just appearances, but were part of a much bigger, much more horrifying picture.

The distraught vampire felt a stab of pain in her heart not caused by the grub within it. "Why… You should not be here. Why are you not resting in the next world? How… are you alive, Max?" Remilia said with a disheartened voice as she stared into the face of The Harbinger.

Max formed a grin. "Heh… The next world?" He shook his head from side to side before locking his eyes back on Remilia's. "I never left."


	11. Chapter 11 Mind in Conflict

Max was standing next to the doorway that leads out of the dark room. He was leaning out of it, taking peeks down the black stone hallway. With a sigh of relief he pulled his head back in.

"Well, I don't see any more of those dingbats. They must be preparing for whatever that ritual was that they were talking about." He said.

Remilia was still in agony. She moaned loudly in Max's arms as the alien grub in her heart refused to let her feel any peace. The pain had become unbearable for her. She was at the point of wanting to drive her own nails straight into her heart. She might have if she only had the strength to.

Max was worried for her, not knowing when whatever it was the cultists had placed in her heart would cause her heart to explode. He needed to get her to someone who could help her and fast. He already had such a person in mind, but he needed to figure out how exactly he would get to the person and her moans of pain were not helping him in formulating a plan.

With a headache forming in his head, Max verbally lashed out at Remilia. "Will you shut the hell up for five minutes? You're a vampire for fuck sake so suck it up." He said curtly.

Remilia was appalled by his rude demand, but the torment she was subject to kept her from retaliating in any way. She was already mentally drained from all that was happening in such a short amount of time and his sudden appearance only made it worse. She had so many questions to what was going on and now even more questions were thrown onto the pile. All she could do was force out questions.

"How? How are you here? You should be six feet under my garden!" She said loudly in a badly hoarse voice. She could feel her throat tearing every time she forced air out through them, but that wouldn't stop her from speaking.

"Just shut up. We'll worry about that crap later. We need to find that bastard so we can get the hell out of here." Max said.

He took another peek out into the dark hallway. Either direction lead into darkness and he had no idea which way to take. He had tried to memorize all the paths and where they went to when he was pretending to be one of the cultists, but he had quickly realized that that was a lost adventure. R'lyeh was not a place that could be mapped out. No hallway or door leads to the same place twice. It was a place built not for earthly creatures to navigate and any that tried would surely go insane from the impossible layout of the alien city.

Sweat drops popped out all over Max's face as he grew increasingly nervous. "Alrighty then. You just chill out until we get to the bastard." He said then prepared to leave the dark room until Remilia spoke again.

"Who?! Who are we going to?! How did you get to this place?! Tell me!" Remilia yelled franticly.

She was being driven insane from the agony. She wanted it to end. She wanted to be set free from the cruelty of the alien grub. She thought how nice it would be to have that strange alien gun placed to her chest and the trigger pulled. The pain hurt so much she wanted to die, but then she would think of her little sister and her father and how they were both still trapped in the dreaded city. She was they're only hope of setting them free. Only when they were free from this place could she then die. Until then, she was determined to stay alive.

Max's ears rang from her shouting. "For fuck sake, what did I just tell you?!" He shouted back at her.

"Who are you going to take me to? Are they responsible for you being alive? They are aren't they? They are!" Remilia shouted once again, determined to get at least some answers from him.

Max understood he needed to give her something in order to calm her down, but he also understood nothing he said would do her any good.

"Do you remember that time we got lost in some bizarre'o library?" He asked.

With Max's question came the image of a man with a hood covered face in Remilia's mind, his nefarious grin far too unforgettable. She gritted her teeth in fury when she knew exactly who Max was taking her to.

"Joseph…" She sneered.

Max looked surprise that she remembered the occultist. "You actually remember that asshole?" He asked curiously.

"Unfortunately…" Remilia said tiredly. She drew in a large breath of air before continuing to speak. "I have had the pleasure of meeting him again at my home. But enough about that. Take me to him."

"That's the idea, dipshit." Max said.

"What did you just call me?!" Remilia shouted angrily, only to be answered with a shock of pain from her heart, causing her to gasp for air.

"First you need to wrap your arms around me. I have a feeling we might run into more of those fucktards and I'm gonna need my right hand to shoot." Max said.

"Wh-What? I can't-"

"Hurry up! We gotta get moving. We've wasted enough time bullshitting already." Max urged.

He roughly shook Remilia to force her arms up. She involuntarily wrapped her arms around his neck, freeing his right hand to hold onto the alien weapon. She was embarrassed to have her face so close to his, but he gave her no chance to complain as he darted out of the room.

Remilia bounced up and down in Max's arms as he ran left down the dark hallway. "Do you know where you are going?" She asked.

"Not a clue!" Max declared proudly, and with that, a little hope in Remilia died.

Remilia looked dumbfounded for a moment, unable to believe what she just heard, before glaring angrily at Max. "What do you mean you don't have a clue?!" She shouted in his ear.

Max winced from the loud shout. "Please just shut up." He moaned.

"No! No, I will not shut up, Max! My sister is in danger and all you can think of to do is to run blindly in one direction!" She yelled. She was thrown into a coughing fit when blood made its way up her throat, choking her.

Max silently thanked the alien grub in her heart. "Joseph should know exactly where they're performing the ritual. We find him then we find her." He said, hoping to calm the vampire down a little.

Though he said that confidently, Max really did have no idea where to find Joseph. His plan was literally to run around blindly in hopes that Joseph would be the one to find them. He just hoped that he would find them first before something else did.

They came to the end of the hallway that broke off into another set of two other hallways. Max looked down each one then quickly chose to run to the right. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet started to tremble. He slowed down his running speed in order to keep balanced and avoid falling. He only stopped when the deep alien roar of some horrible creature echoed all around them.

Remilia and Max looked around nervously, both trying to pinpoint where the roar was coming from.

"What was that?" Remilia asked breathlessly.

"One ornery mother fucker…" Max answered.

He went to continue down the hallway, but stopped when he saw a green glow from beyond the darkness up ahead. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to make out what the light was.

"Look out, you idiot!" Remilia exclaimed.

Max quickly dove out of the way of an incoming blast of plasma. He narrowly avoided being hit, but his left shoulder was nicked by the blast as it flew passed.

"O~w! Mother fucker, that hurt!" Max shouted as smoke rose from the burnt flesh on his shoulder.

He pressed his back up against the wall as two more plasma shots were fired in his direction, avoiding them both. He held up his gun, pointed it down the hallway and fired three shots of his own. The three shots traveled down the dark hallway and disappeared into the darkness. A distant cry was heard from where the plasma shots went.

Max let out a disgruntled sigh. "Well, I guess they know we're coming. That's just fucking peachy." He said sullenly.

Remilia shook him by his neck, forcing him to look down at her. Her entire face was glazed over in sweat as she continued to struggle against the thing in her heart.

"Why did you stop? Keep going." She demanded in a trembling and weak voice.

Remilia was doing her best to look strong despite her situation, but she was fighting a losing battle. The grub had taken its toll on both her body and her mind. She was now fighting to remain conscious as her last bits of strength was being torn away from her. She hated to rely on someone else for help, but she had no choice and could only edge Max on.

Max could easily see that she was holding on with all of her might. He hadn't come to the corpse city just to watch her die and he wasn't about to let her. He held on tight to Remilia with one hand and the gun in the other then ran down the hallway.

"This is gonna suck." He commented, finding it difficult to hold onto much hope.

Remilia's head bobbed back and forth as her vision wavered. "You have… You have to save my sister. I don't care what happens… to me… Just save Flandre…" She said as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Max spotted three more plasma shots fired from the unseen assailants. One past harmlessly by to his left while another flew by on his right. The third was aimed lower towards his feet, forcing him to leap over it. He returned fire with three more shots and sprinted onward.

"I didn't come here to save your retard sister." Max said as he fired two shots when two were fired at him.

Remilia was brought out of her dazed state a little upon hearing the insult towards her sister. "How dare you insult my sister! I'll cut out your tongue for that!" She yelled then immediately went into another coughing fit.

"I told you I'm getting your vampire ass out of here. What you do afterwards is your business." Max stated.

They ran passed the body of a cultist on the floor. A hole was present in his stomach as blood poured from it. Max took a quick glance at it then looked back forward.

"The fuckers are running from us." He said.

"It… It must be a trap." Remilia said while trying to get her coughing under control.

"Perfe~ct…" Max said in a faked excited manner.

As if on cue, the sound of beeping from an electronic device could suddenly be heard. Max recognized the sound in an instant and dropped to the ground, covering Remilia with himself. A split second later and there was an explosion from up above. A part of the ceiling was blown apart, sending down a hail of rock and dust on top of Max and Remilia. They were both quickly buried under a pile of rock and rubble.

Once the rocks stopped falling from the newly created hole the ceiling, Max rose out from the mound of black rock with Remilia still in his arms. They both choked on the dust and were covered in a sheet of dirt. Blood was pouring down Max's face from a wound on his head after being struck by a large stone.

With his vision blurred, Max pulled Remilia and himself out of the pile then staggered away from the rubble. "O~wy~… I'll be feeling that one in the morning." He groaned.

Max shook his head to clear his vision, only to find the barrel of a gun pointed at his face. Behind the gun stood a masked cultist and behind him two other cultists.

"Oh, don't worry about that. You won't be feeling anything here in a second." The cultist with the gun said.

Max sneered. "Fu~ck…"

"You've caused us more than enough trouble, kid. It's only fitting that we use you as well as that little bitch you're carrying for the ritual. Now drop it." The cultist said waspishly.

Max refused to drop his weapon. He gripped it tightly, determined to die with it in his hands.

Remilia saw they were in a bad spot and was trying to think of a way to help, but she was too occupied with trying to stay awake. She cursed at the grub countless times over and over again in her head as her vision darkened further and further.

Max glanced down at her. He looked angry, but he looked at her with apologetic eyes, telling her he didn't know how to get them out of their dire situation either.

The cultist quickly lost his patience and pressed the barrel of his gun hard up against Max's forehead. "You got five seconds to drop it or you can be sacrificed without your nutsack." He threatened.

Max was gritting his teeth hard as sweat and blood poured down his tired face. He was desperately thinking of a way to get him and Remilia out of there, but he could not think of anything. He resorted to hoping for a miracle of some sort to save them now.

"My my my. R'lyeh really is an amazing piece of work, I do say so myself." The deep voice of a man was hard in the darkness behind the cultists.

The cultists quickly turned around towards the direction of the voice. "What the hell?!" One exclaimed.

The armed cultist kept his gun pointed at Max's head. "Who's there? Step out now with your hands up. Slowly." He demanded sternly.

Remilia, Max and the three cultists watched as a robed figure with a hood-covered face appeared from the darkness, his hands folded casually behind his back. Remilia and Max did not need a visual of the new arrival, his voice already having answered who he was.

Remilia was slowly being dragged into a sea of rage as the robed man's antagonizing grin she hated so much came into her sight. His grin seemed to help drain her more of what energy she barely had. Everything around her began to go out of focus and she fought against her eyelids to keep them open.

"Oh! Salutations, everyone." Joseph said cheerfully to the group.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" One of the cultists asked harshly.

With the cultists distracted, Max went to make his move, but was stopped when the armed cultist quickly returned his attention back on him.

"Oh, I don't think so, buddy." The armed cultist said sourly.

"Now now, gentlemen. Surely we can settle this little misunderstanding diplomatically?" Joseph suggested.

Dumbfounded, the three cultists looked at one another.

"Is this guy for real?" One of the unarmed cultists asked.

"Kick this fool's ass. He can join these two idiots as well." The armed cultist said.

The unarmed cultists both cracked their knuckles as they approached Joseph. "Gladly." One of them said.

Joseph did nothing but stand still casually as the two cultists approached him, his grin never changing. Max watched him curiously in anticipation.

"Let's see you grinning after I knock those teeth out!" One of the cultists shouted.

The cultist threw a punch towards Joseph's face, but stopped with his fist midflight when he saw that Joseph was suddenly holding an alien weapon.

The cultists jumped in surprise. "What the- When did he get that?" One of them asked nervously.

"What the hell?!" The armed, or at least at one point was armed, cultist exclaimed when he realized the weapon in his hand was no longer there. Her trembled fearfully as he watched a grin slowly form on Max's face as he raised his gun to his head. "W-W-Wait a minute here! Don't be rash now, boy!" He stumbled back to the other two cultists who at the same time stumbled back to him.

The three cultists were now bunched up back to back, quivering together and scared out of their minds between the two armed men.

Joseph paid no attention to the cultists and was looking at the gun that he had somehow gotten. He marveled at the gun, seemingly having great interest in it. "Such a fascinating weapon you fellows have here. Mind if I ask where you got such a wonderful device?" He asked politely.

"Stop asking questions and just shoot the bastards so we can move on." Max ordered then aimed his gun at the head of one of the cultists.

"No, please do-" One cultist tried to beg for his life, but his face was blown off into a bloody cloud of smoke and green fire.

"Shit!" The remaining two cultists cried out as they watched their comrade fall lifelessly to the floor.

"No, I think I will let you take care of them, young man. I do not much enjoy such barbaric ways of getting rid of people." Joseph said as he continued to study the gun in his hand.

"Pussy." Max remarked bitterly as he walked up to the trembling cultists as they continued to beg for their lives, hands clasped in their hands in prayer. He finished them off with a point-blank shot to the center of their faces without remorse. He walked up to Joseph and shoved him. "You could have shown up sooner, you prick." He said harshly.

Joseph's eyes were on the barely conscious vampire in Max's arms, grinning devilishly at her. "Aw, poor little Remilia. Having trouble handling an alien grub eating away at your heart are you?" He asked wistfully.

Remilia glared as intensely as she could at the man. "Joseph… You… I'll be feeding your hide to rats bit by bit… after I am done here. I swear it." She said in a trembling voice brought on by a wave of animosity.

"Oh, but Lady Remilia. Will you not allow me to give an explanation first?" Joseph asked.

"I don't care. I don't care. I just want you to die." Remilia said breathlessly as she squirmed in Max's arms.

Joseph let out a chuckle. "How unfortunate. Not sure how rats would enjoy my skin though." He joshed.

Max shoved Remilia into Joseph's arms. "Here. Hold onto the pocket sized cum bucket while I get the last of the three stooges." He said then took Joseph's gun from him.

"How dare you!" Remilia yelled vehemently at Max, her face beating red with anger. She exerted herself by trying to yell and drained her already dwindling energy. She fell limp in Joseph's arms, breathing weakly as she tried to catch her breath.

"Oh, dear. We need to get that thing out of you quickly, my dear Remilia." Joseph said.

Max attached the alien weapons to his belt, one on each hip. He turned his attention back to Joseph to see him gently laying Remilia across the floor on her back, her wings spread out behind her.

"That can wait. Do that after we get her and the other two out of here." Max said.

"I am afraid it cannot wait. The thing inside her is growing in size and could cause her heart to burst at any moment now." Joseph said.

"You gotta be kidding me." Max said distraughtly.

"I am afraid not, my boy." Joseph replied.

Remilia was slowly sinking into unconsciousness. Her eyes looked dead, not having any of their normal scarlet glow. Her skin was blanched as well as her hair and she looked emaciated. She was barely able to think straight and was using all of her concentration just to keep her eyes open. Her hearing was compromised. Everything to her sounded so distant and it only got further and further away as time passed.

"Shit…" Max cursed. Just one good look was all that he needed to see that she was running out of time.

Joseph dropped to his knees beside Remilia. He blew into both of his hands then rubbed them together, apparently to warm them up. He said a few words in an odd language then placed each of his hands over Remilia's breasts and pressed down on them, instantly getting an angry reaction from Max when he placed a gun to his head.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Max asked franticly.

"Good grief, will you drop that thing and get down here? I will need your help." Joseph said.

"Er…" Max reluctantly did as he was told and crouched down on the other side of Remilia, though still not liking where Joseph's hands were. "What the hell can I do?"

"I will use an incantation to try and carefully pull the thing out of her heart. I need to concentrate on it to my fullest and I need you to be ready to grab a hold of it when I get it out." Joseph said.

"Ah, you're gonna make me grab the thing with my bare hands?" Max said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Such a little thing is more than enough for the recovery of this beautiful woman is it not?" Joseph asked.

"Not really, but whatever. Get on with it." Max said and prepared himself.

Joseph chuckled. "It is just us two right now. She cannot hear us. No need to pretend you do not care." He said.

"Start chanting before I blow a hole in your face." Max said in a raised tone.

"Be ready." Joseph said then looked into Remilia's dead eyes. "I am truly sorry my dear, but this will hurt a lot." He said to her with his grin still present.

Joseph began a chant in a strange language. It was definitely not a language found on the Earth and some of the sounds he made to pronounce some of the words seemed impossible for a normal human being to make.

Max could only look at him with more disgust and hatred, but regardless, he let him continue on with the chant.

Joseph's hands started to glow a blood red color and a second after they began to glow, Remilia's eyes shot wide open as well as her mouth as she let out a terrible howl of pain and suffering. Her back arched upward involuntarily from the painful shock. Her loud screams rattled the stone walls and forced Max to cover his ears or risk having his ear drums ruptured. Joseph on the other hand seemed to not be bothered by the loud shrill cry coming from the vampire in the slightest. He continued chanting and the longer he went on the more pain Remilia seemed to be driven in.

The incantation Remilia was put under was bringing worse pain than the alien grub had. Age old scars and wounds were beginning to appear all over her body. Her skin wrinkled and her hair grayed as the very essence of her immortality was drained from her.

"What the fuck are you doing to her?!" Max tried to shout at Joseph over Remilia's howling.

He sneered at Joseph when he got no response from him and was about to swing a punch at his head, but he caught sight of something wiggling from between Remilia's breasts. It was a blood-covered tail that stuck out from her chest and wiggled around vigorously, seemingly trying to wiggle its way back into her, flinging drops of blood everywhere as it did so. He immediately assumed that to be the grub and reached out for it. He got a hold of it and held onto it tightly as not to let it get away.

Joseph ended his incantation, but still poured his strange energy into Remilia. "Now do not pull on it too hard or you might lose-" Before he could finish his sentence, the grub slipped out of Max's grip and burrowed itself back into Remilia. "A hold of it…" He said as a sigh.

Max looked frustrated as he swore under his breath at the grub that got away from him. "I'll get the damn thing this time." He tried to assure.

Joseph chuckled. "Of course. Of course."

Joseph again started his incantation and again managed to bring the grub out of Remilia just enough for Max to grab a hold of it.

"Okay, now what?" Max asked hastily.

"Just slowly pull it while I force the rest of it out." Joseph instructed.

"This better fucking work." Max demanded.

"If she is not a pile of sand in what was once a fine dress then it has yet to fail." Joseph stated.

Remilia's howls of misery continued as the grub was very slowly pulled out of her. Max was losing his patience as the thing in his hand wiggled around wildly, struggling to free itself from his grasp. Joseph continued to inch the grub out without any change in his expression.

The thing was slowly pulled out, revealing it's disgusting size. Max had pulled so much of it out that it had gotten to the length of his entire arm. He looked at the thing, utterly appalled.

"What the hell? How could this thing have possibly been inside her heart?" He asked, stunned at the things size.

Joseph laughed. "An odd creature, is it not? But do not let yourself be distracted. We almost have it out now." He said.

The second Joseph finished his sentence, the head of the gruesome grub popped out of Remilia's chest. The hideous thing's head consisted of nothing but a row of razor sharp teeth and no visible eyes to speak off. It flailed around violently and snarled at its captor. The blood-drenched fiend flew towards Max's neck it retaliation with its teeth bared.

"Oh Jesus fuck!" Max exclaimed in a panic as he just barely grabbed the strange eel-like creature by the back of its head to keep it from biting into him. After a brief struggle with the violent grub, he managed to smash its head against the stone floor, ending the creature's alien life. Max remained seated for a moment to catch his breath. "Jesus…"

Remilia's screaming ended. Her body still ached and trembled from the ordeal, but it slowly recovered. Already her skin had healed and her natural hair color returned. Life returned to her eyes and her mind was recovering from the painful trauma at a steady pace. She had to ask herself a few questions to remember where she was and what had happened. Once she was able to gather her thoughts up she slowly pushed herself back up to her feet.

Max went to help her when she nearly stumbled backward. "Now hold on, you idiot. Lie down a little longer and relax." He said as he grabbed on her shoulders to help keep her steady.

"What the rude young man is saying, my dear Lady, is that you need to take more time for your body to heal." Joseph insisted.

Remilia was still a bit dazed but otherwise freed from the horrible pain brought on by that alien grub. She raised a hand up to her forehead, still feeling a pounding pain there. She moaned as her headache stubbornly refused to leave her be.

Max snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey, vampire. You all there yet?" He asked.

Her vision was blurred but she could see the fingers snapping annoyingly in front of her just fine. She glanced at the man to her right then glanced at the one to her left. She was thankful that they had saved her life, but she was in dire need of a way to vent out the anger that has been building up in her. With the two men's groins in perfect range, she, in a move that served only to make her feel a little better, jetted out her right fist into Joseph's crotch and her left into Max's. Both men were dropped to their knees, groaning from the sudden blow to their genitals.

"Oh, you rotten bitch…" Max moaned strenuously as he fell to the floor and kicked around, spinning himself around on his side in a circle.

Joseph stumbled backwards then fell to his rear-end. He was definitely hurting, but he somehow managed to keep a straight face. "That little experience reminded me of a certain book I found on the floor of the Great Library thirty years ago." He said haggardly then fell into deep thought.

Remilia let out a sigh of relief then walked away from the two injured men. She did not feel sorry for suddenly hurting them, being all too angry with the both of them for different reasons. She stopped then turned around to face them just when they were recovering. She gritted her teeth as she glared at them. Joseph stared back, that nefarious grin of his still where it always is. She swore if she could just tear that grin off and destroy it then half of her problems would be gone. Max, on the other hand, was returning her own stare back at her.

"Real fucking nice, Remilia. Punch a guy that just saved your life right in his ballsack." Max sneered.

"I am sure she is still just a little confused after going through such a traumatic experience. No need to get mad, Max." Joseph said.

"Go kill yourself." Max said angrily.

"Both of you shut up." Remilia said in a raised voice.

Both of the men fell silent and waited for her to speak. She wanted to just bombard them with all the questions she had, but those questions would take time to be asked and time to be answered. Time Flandre did not have. Glaring intensely at both of them, she asked the only question that mattered at that moment.

"Where is my sister? Where is Flandre?" She asked clearly.

Joseph let out a low sounding laugh. Remilia had already fixated her focus on the hood-faced man. She knew he had the answer she needed. He appeared to have all the answers she desired and that was what made him terrifying. She hated to admit it, but mentally flailing about trying to find another reason why she couldn't kill the man back at her mansion was not helping her mental state. She swallowed a bit of her pride and let it be.

Joseph pointed a finger down the dark hallway behind Remilia. "She is not far now. You were going in the right direction thanks to the wonderful foresight of this young man here." He said joyfully, though a bit mockingly towards Max.

"Piss off." Max scoffed at Joseph.

Remilia could see that Joseph was enjoying the scornful look she was giving him even without seeing his entire face. "You will tell me everything after I save my sister." She said sternly. "Including but not limited to how and why Max is alive. Do you understand?"

She could only grow more irritated with the man as his grin grew. It grew so dark that it even made her shiver despite her most valiant efforts not to. That grin was the embodiment of all her hatred.

"Dear Remilia… At the risk of sounding rude, I must say that you need to concentrate on getting out of here alive first before thinking about what happens afterwards." He said sententiously.

What he said only infuriated Remilia further. He seemed to think she lacked the capability of saving her sister and getting out of the dreaded city and that was enough to insult her several times over.

Remilia shrugged off what he said, determined not to let the man's words get to her. She turned and immediately started down the hallway, but was stopped and turned back when Max came up from behind her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Hold up, dummy." Max said.

Remilia harshly pulled away from him. "Do not touch me. I have already had enough of you and your insults." She said with a scowl. Max suddenly shoved something onto her head and over her eyes. "Wh-What are doing? What is this?" She said in a panicky voice as she pulled the thing back off her head. Once she got a look at it she was able to see that it was her damaged cap. She looked surprised for a moment, but quickly put back on her angry expression. She placed the cap back on her correctly. "Hmph. Thank you."

Max folded his arms in front of him and nodded. "There, now you are complete. Now you can die wearing that stupid little hat and your tits hanging out." He said.

"Eh~?!" Remilia shrieked when she was reminded that her breasts were still not covered.

Out of flustered panic, she shoved Max hard, sending him tumbling backwards across the floor. She quickly turned around then hastily ripped a piece of her already torn dress off. She wrapped it around her chest then tied it behind her, making a make-shift bra for herself.

With her new bra on and her breasts no longer in the view of the public, Remilia let out a sigh and turned around to face Max and Joseph with a flushed face. "Remind me to slap you both until your skin comes off later." She said to them.

Max jumped back to his feet with a grin. "Aw~, and here I was thinking you would go in there all commando." He said then laughed.

Remilia growled angry at Max as her face flashed a brighter red. She turned around then ran down the hallway with Max and Joseph right behind her.

She held out her hands to her sides to allow her nails to extend into sharp bladed weapons. Her fangs grew to a menacing size and her wings were spread out, taking the entirety of the width of the hallway. Her appearance became more frightful as her dark red energy poured off of her. Her forehead wrinkled as she put on a more vampiric look. She hoped for some flesh to tear and she would have it. Remilia came upon plenty of cultists to take her rage out on.

Three were firing their alien weapons in unison with each other. Their barrage of plasma blasts hit their target, splashing against a thin red shield that took shape around Remilia's form, causing no harm to her. Upon seeing their attacks ineffective against the vampire, one of the cultists panicked and ran the other way, with the two he deserted yelling at him to stand his ground.

Remilia darted towards the two cultists that dared to stay, slicing their throats when she leaped into the air and twirled passed them. She landed gracefully and chased down the fleeing cultist. She easily caught up to him and leaped onto his back, her nails digging straight into his lungs. The man gasped for air as he started to suffocate, still trying to run away even with a vampire on his back. Remilia pulled her hands outward to the sides, ripping his back open and exposing some of his spine. The man screamed for mercy as his spine was severed with a simple flick of her finger. Without use of his legs, he fell forward and was forced to bleed out as Remilia left him as he was, dying miserably in the dark cold.

Four more cultists showed up to try and stop, or at least delay, Remilia. Three opened fire on her the second they caught sight of her while another seemed to be chanting something behind them.

Remilia ignored the plasma blasts and formed a magical ball of red energy in between her hands as she quickly approached the group. Quickly it was formed to completion and with it she launched it towards the group of cultists, catching them off guard. The group was engulfed in a ball of fire and smoke, leaving only one behind when the smoke and fire was blown away by an eerie wind. The sole cultist had his palm up towards her, his hand covered in a sickly green flame. Remilia paid no attention to the strange magic he was trying to wield and flew towards the man's head, ready to slice it off his shoulders. The man stopped his chanting then clenched his hand tightly, stopping Remilia in midair and only inches away from him. Remilia let out a vampiric hiss at the man as she thrashed around in the strange invisible force she was being held by.

"Heh." The man let escape from his lips, thinking he had won.

The magic wielding cultist swung his green flame covered hand towards the wall, sending Remilia crashing into it with his telekinetic power. He then dragged her across the wall, smashing her into the ceiling then dragging her across the ceiling to hit the other side of the wall. He completed the circle by smashing her down to the floor then back to the first wall he crashed her into then blasted her back down the hallway.

Remilia tumbled across the floor, almost hitting the legs of Max and Joseph who waited for her to finish the cultist. Hastily she got to her feet. She drew in labored breaths as she tried to keep her vampiric rage from taking over her, but she was far too angry. Far too anxious and nearly insane from knowing her sister's soul was in jeopardy. A burning pain began to swell in her mind. She grabbed hold of her head as she started to groan in pain. Her blood boiled and her wings ripped further out of her back, tearing and snapping as it took on less of a sleek and elegant appearance and more of a twisted and jagged one.

Joseph let out a whistle as he started to take a number of feet back from the vampire who seemed to be burning now, followed by Max whose eyes were fixated on the vampire in a near trance-like state.

The cultist let out a short low chuckle. "Heh heh. Looks like R'lyeh has affected you deeply, vampire." He said in a deep dark voice.

Remilia tried in vain to simply kill the cultist and move on, but no. She was convinced he and his allies had to suffer. Had to die the most gruesome of deaths for their crimes against her. All of the anxiety and anger that had built up within her had reached its peak. With a short burst of energy, she let out a vampiric howl for all of the city to hear.

Max and Joseph were both nearly knocked off their feet from the gust of wind Remilia's inhuman howl unleashed. The cultist was taking the brunt of the wind and was struggling not to be pushed backwards.

"Er~! Throw a tantrum all you want, vampire! You won't leave here with your mind intact!" The cultist shouted as he stood his ground, ready for the vampire's next move.

Remilia's ceased her howling and placed her burning scarlet eyes on the cultist. Her fangs were horrendously large as she gritted her teeth. Her ability to think was barely there. She was only capable of doing to most basic of actions and that is all she was needed to do. She took aim at the cultist ahead of her then launched towards him, the blast from her take off enough to send Max and Joseph to their behinds.

She held out her bladed nails and within only a few seconds began to swipe maddeningly in front of her. She created what appeared to be a wall of red lines slicing around randomly, like some kind of storm of long blades being whipped around. The sound of slicing blades was mind-wrecking and loud, and for the cultist it grew only louder. Soon his thoughts were drown by the sound of clashing metal.

The cultist's hand fell limp to his side as the wall of blades filled him with despair.

"My Lord in Heaven…" His last words were spoken before his body was consumed in the storm of red slicing claws.

The cultist's skin was the first to be torn from him. His legs and arms were slashed from their places then cut into several smaller pieces before the meat was cut from the bone. The bones of his torso had been careful sliced out, leaving his major organs to be sliced into goo save for the heart. The eyes in his skinless face were cut to ribbons before they left the sockets. The skull seemingly peeled off from the brain with the brain itself being sliced into small, perfectly square-shaped pieces. All of his body was reduced to a pile of organic muck in an instant.

Remilia's short outburst of rage ended as quickly as it came. She landed hard in a pool of blood and broken bone. She held up a pointer finger, letting the cultist's untouched heart land on her nail. The beating of the heart died as it slid wetly down her finger. With her final act, she took a ferocious bite out of the heart then threw what was left off it at the wall where it exploded on impact.

Remilia nearly collapsed to her knees when she regained intelligible thinking. She drew in labored breaths as her body continued to burn from the sudden burst of power she let loose throughout it.

Max and Joseph approached the resting vampire, with Joseph clapping his hands in praise. He seemed pleased by her feral-like performance, if his maddening grin was any indication.

"Well done, Lady Remilia. And thank you. Thank you for showing me your true vampiric nature, even if it was only for a moment." Joseph said with a bow. "Not very lady-like at all, but isn't it so much better than trying to act like something you are not?" He asked with a taunting grin.

Remilia ignored what Joseph said, though he was right. Losing oneself to the more monstrous nature of a vampire was completely against that of being a noble vampire. To give in to that beastly side was to lose the ability to call one's self a noble and dignified vampire. It was much more difficult to do than could be seen. She, obviously, was victim to giving in sometimes and every time she would feel greatly ashamed of herself.

She took a few deep breaths to further calm herself down, not wanting to accidently go berserk again and waste energy needlessly.

Max walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulders. He was quite surprised by what he had just witnessed and was showing it with his expression. "Wow, Remilia." He said while still trying to soak in everything that just happened. He leaned down to her ear. "Thanks for not going bat-shit crazy on me like that the first time we met." He said with a smile then roughly patted her on the back, knocking her forward a little.

Remilia grunted at the rough pat Max gave her, but simply continued onward without saying anything.

Remilia, Max and Joseph came to a flight of black stairs that led deeper into the alien city. Remilia didn't hesitate to go down them, even with the ominous symbols engraved everywhere around her glowing dimly. The two men would only stop when she did and followed without a second thought.

After a long walk down the stone steps, they finally came to a large open room. A few flights of stairs below were where the remaining cultists were. Several dozen masked cultists stood in a circle around five other cultists who each stood at a corner of a glowing green pentagram that had been carved into the floor. The five cultists had their hands out towards the center, zealously chanting an alien incantation. Among those five was Anton who lead the incantation. In the center of the glowing pentagram sat Flandre. She was staring out into nothing, completely unaware to what was going on around her.

Remilia leaned over the stone railing to get a better look at the spell circle. Her eyes widened with great relief when she spotted Flandre in the middle of it.

"Flandre- Ow~!" Remilia called out for her sister and immediately received a hard smack across the side of the head from Max for it. She turned around glaring at the man that had hit her. "How dare you lay a hand on me like that!" She shouted.

"Don't you think before opening that cocksucker of yours? Now you just lost the jump on them because you just HAD to scream for your sister." Max said while glaring back at Remilia.

Remilia's jaw dropped in shock from the insult and was about to jab Max in the stomach for it, but she quickly realized he was right when she heard a cultist call them out.

"Father Anton! It's that vampire! She's here!" A cultist could be heard shouting from within the large group of spectating cultists.

Anton looked up to where Remilia was. Drops of sweat rolled down his face in droves, knowing he was losing time. "Brothers! Do whatever you can to stave off that monster! If we fail, then the Earth is doomed!" He called out to his followers.

Remilia leaped up onto the stone railing and crouched down on it, preparing to take flight. She glanced over her shoulder at the two men behind her.

"You two stay out of the way. I am going to end this circus with one spell card." She said.

With her orders given, she leaped off the stone railing to take flight, but not before Max managing to land a hard slap across her butt. She yelped as she flew off, her hand going straight to where it hurts in order to rub out the pain. Her wings flapped wildly as she fluttered off.

"That son of a bitch…" Remilia mumbled, still wincing from the stinging pain.

Max remained with Joseph, happily grinning at Remilia as she flew off with her hand on her butt. He noticed Joseph was staring at him, no grin, no emotion, seemingly looking at him as if to ask why.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "Well she shouldn't of stuck her ass in my face." He said to Joseph, only earning a shrug from him.

Remilia flew around above the large group of cultists. She circled around Flandre, watching as the cultists formed into groups. Some stood close to the mages performing the ritual in order to protect them while others prepared to try and attack her with their alien weaponry. The cultists fired their weapons at her, but none coming close to hitting her. She was able to figure out that they were more focused on keeping her away then actually shooting her down. She considered it a smart, though futile, plan.

From her ragged dress pocket she pulled out a spell card. She flashed the card in front of her and faced the front of it at the cultists below.

"Tell them it was Remilia Scarlet when you arrive at the Gates of Hell!" She called out to the cultists. "Hell Sign "Mountain of a Thousand Needles"!" She declared.

Remilia's spell card burned up in red fire with her declaration. A second afterwards, three red spell circles formed around her, intersecting one another as they grew in size.

Many of the cultists watched in awe at the strange red circles high above them. They trembled in anticipation as they waited for what was going to happen. They didn't have to wait long. Soon after the circles formed, a horde of blood-dripping daggers appeared from the circles. The cultists were instantly thrown into chaos and disorganization as the flood of knives came crashing down upon them. They all scattered, running around franticly and tripping over one another as the daggers rained on them. One by one the cultists were brought down. Their bodies fell to the floor, cut to pieces and littered with daggers. A veil of blood soon covered the black floor.

All the cultists soon laid dead from the hail of daggers. All except for the five mages who still desperately tried to finish their ritual. They watched helplessly as Remilia landed softly next to her sister.

Anton glared at Remilia with hatred. "You cursed monster! How dare you try and ruin the ritual!" He yelled vehemently.

"Release my sister NOW!" Remilia bellowed her order, causing the air to shake. She kept her eyes on Anton's, suspecting him not to give up quite yet.

"You damned woman! I will not let the world be destroyed while I'm alive! By my predecessors who came before me, I swear I will have your soul, Remilia~ Scarle~t!" He screamed his hate.

The five mages ended their spell and prepared to fight the vampire. They circled her then began chanting a different kind of incantation.

"My brothers! Give your minds to me so I may slay this villain!" Anton shouted.

As the mages chanted, the four masked mages suddenly stopped their incantation abruptly. Their heads started to glow a dim green. From each of their glowing heads came a green wobbling string that linked up to Anton's head. He appeared to spasm a little as his eyes were forced shut. He held his mouth open as if shouting, but no sound came. After a short few seconds, his spasms ended, leaving his head hanging low. Life quickly reappeared in him when he lifted his head and opened his eyelids, revealing two glowing spheres of green energy.

"Prepare to join your father, Remilia Scarlet!" Anton declared in a warped voice.

Remilia readied herself as she carefully watched the mages circle her.

The four masked mages walked exactly alike, their steps in unison with each other. They moved according to Anton's will and were ready to carry out his telepathic orders without delay.

The four mages hands were enveloped in a dim green flame and from those flames formed green chains that shot forward towards Remilia. She leaped into the air to avoid being tangled in the web of green chains, but one had wrapped around her ankle that brought her crashing back to the stone floor. With her nails extended on one hand, she slashed at the chain around her foot. She gasped in surprise when her nails shattered against the chains. Another chain quickly wrapped itself around her neck while another swung around her waist. The chains squeezed her tightly as they held her suspended in the air.

Anton laughed cruelly. "I was raised to slay and seal monsters. You are no match for me." He said.

As the chains constricted her, Remilia transformed into a horde of bats in order to free herself. The bats flew around disorderly while they eyed Anton.

Anton laughed at the large cloud of bats. "Pests like you are easily exterminated!"

Black clouds started to flow from the hands of the masked mages in place of the chains. The clouds appeared to be electrical clouds as green sparks could be seen within them. The clouds formed above the mages, forming into one large electrical storm.

The swarm of bats swooped down towards the mages with the intent of shredding them to pieces, but when they tried to fly through the cloud in their way, they were fried by the green electricity that made up the cloud. One by one they exploded into little patches of fur and wing fragments.

The swarm of bats ceased their assault and reformed into Remilia right above the black cloud. She sneered, frustrated that Anton was proving to be more of a hassle than she had expected.

With her wings spread out, she began spinning rapidly in the air. A powerful gale was created and the black cloud was blown away into nothingness as she descended into it. She ceased her spinning as she softly touched ground.

Anton was grinning maddeningly and glaring intently at Remilia with his glowing green eyes as he approached her. From his hands had formed two blades made from his strange alien magic.

Remilia formed her spear from her red energy and quickly blocked a forward thrust from Anton's right blade. He swung vertically with his left blade and made another thrust with his right, both being blocked by Remilia's spear. He swung downward with both of his blades, smashing them against the handle of her spear. She moved in with a counterattack, pushing his blades upward then quickly thrusting her spear forward. The blade of her spear struck Anton in the stomach, but to her shock her attack was reflected away by a sudden blast of energy. The blast sent her rocketing backwards and away from Anton. She landed back on the floor and skidded several feet before coming to a stop. Remilia kept her guard up despite the sudden setback and prepared for Anton's offensive.

Laughing insanely, Anton fast approached her with strange movements that made it look like he was moving around at high speeds. Remilia knew he wasn't using speed to zip around from spot to spot as he slowly closed in on her. She wasn't able to follow his movements by neither sight nor senses and suspected him of using some sort of extra-dimensional method of movement.

Remilia held up the handle of her spear vertically to the right of her when Anton suddenly appeared next to her and attacked, his blade bouncing off the handle. She suddenly had her left shoulder sliced when he instantly appeared to her left. She watched in horror as the entirety of her left arm and shoulder turned into a clump of worms that then fell to the floor with a splat.

Remilia shuddered in nauseating disgust after leaping away from Anton and the pile of worms wiggling around on the floor. Her shoulder healed followed by her arm, but she couldn't shake off the creepy feeling of worms crawling around inside her arm.

Anton was confident in defeating Remilia, but he was taking his time with the vampire, hoping to break her resolve down to its foundation. He wanted to humiliate her and make her beg for mercy.

"Come, vampire. Learn how useless your power is against that of power from beyond." He said, his voice distorted by his alien power.

Remilia remained focused and not swayed by Anton's words. She held up her spear as she prepared to throw it. She aimed at the wicked man's heart then threw.

Her spear shot off like lightning from her hand, traveling from where she was to Anton faster than one could blink. The spear looked poised to pierce its target, but to Remilia's dismay and to Anton's insane glee, her spear had been stopped in midflight, tangled in a web of green chains. The chains were then pulled, constricting around the spear until it broke into pieces and vanished into nothing.

Remilia growled in furious frustration while Anton laughed hysterically.

"I would say that I would spare you sister's soul if you were to surrender, but I'm dead set on sealing your entire family away forever in R'lyeh!" Anton declared.

Remilia pulled out a spell card and held it above her head. "Heaven's Punishment-" She tried to declare her spell, but was stopped when someone had grabbed her by the wrist. She turned her head, her eyes widening in fear-filled shock when she saw who was stopping her. "Fla-Flandre?!" She exclaimed.

Flandre's expression was empty and her eyes were covered in a green glow, much like how Anton's were.

Anton laughed a vile laugh. "Such an easy mind to control. Must be a pain having to deal with a sister who's always struggling mentally with herself because of her power." He said.

Remilia scowled at Anton then tried to break out of Flandre's grip, but she quickly wrapped her arms around her from behind, getting her into a deadly bear hug. She thrashed around in her sister's arms as she was lifted off of her feet, but Flandre's physical strength considerably outmatched her own. Her ribs and back were already being slowly crushed. She tried to shout for her sister to release her, but all the air had been squeezed from her lungs.

Anton walked up to the struggling Remilia and glared down at her with a victorious grin.

"Your vampiric power is no match against the ageless magic that I wield. Even now, after witnessing it first hand, do you refuse to acknowledge your end. Utter foolishness must run in your bloodline." He said. "As much as I wish to break your spirit completely, time is running out. He is slowly awakening from his slumber and I must make sure that his eyes never open." He reached down and cupped Remilia's chin in his cold hand. "Your stubborn soul alone will do just fine in mending the seal. As for your sister… I will not use her soul in the mending with yours. I don't think you deserve the company of your younger sister. Instead I will send her to someplace even worse than R'lyeh…" He said, his grin becoming more dark and twisted, inhuman. "I will send her screaming into another dimension called The Void where she will spend the rest of eternity while her body and soul is continuously ripped to shreds by the eldritch abominations that dwell there."

Remilia's eyes widened in horror, remembering well the dimension called The Void and her short time she spent there with Max. Her sister would surely go insane to the point of her mind breaking completely from the terrible effects of that eldritch location, let alone what the encounters with its denizens would do to her. Her sister wouldn't be her sister anymore. Just an empty shadow. Or worse.

"Let us begin, shall we?" Anton asked kindly.

Suddenly, a plasma gun going off was heard. By the time Anton had turned around towards the direction the sound came from, two of the masked mages had the back of their heads blown apart by plasma shots that were delivered by Max. With their minds combined with Anton's, they were only able to be aware of what Anton was aware of, leaving them defenseless against anything he was not aware of.

Anton watched stunned as his two fellow mages fell face first to the floor, blood gushing from the back of their smoking heads. The green glow in his eyes faded a little, revealing his normal eyes underneath. Infuriated, he glared at Max who stood over the bodies, grinning tauntingly.

"You imbecile! What do you think you are doing?!" He shouted at the young man.

"Fucking up your entire day, bud." Max said.

Anton was grinding his teeth, glaring intensely at Max. "You fool! I will simply enslave your mind as well!" He declared.

Anton poured out his mind towards Max in a bid to dominate his mind. He thought it to be a simple task but was bewildered when he found it seemingly impossible to get a hold on the young man's mind whatsoever. He exerted himself mentally as he stubbornly tried to mind control Max. After a few moments of no progress, he gave up.

He was sweating profusely from straining his mind. "What? How can I not control just a normal human being? What is protecting you?" He asked warily. He growled angrily when he was answered with a middle finger from Max.

The cry of the last two masked mages was heard. Anton turned quickly to see Joseph standing behind the two cultists and gently holding them by the back of their necks. Joseph had severed their mental link with Anton, frying their minds in the process. Their bodies fell limp to the floor.

Anton now wore a face of fear and panic as the green glow in his eyes faded completely. "Wha-What did you just do to them?" He asked in a panicky voice.

"Ahem."

Anton let out a cry of surprise from the cough behind him. He turned around to see that he had lost control of Flandre and that Remilia was standing freely, glaring at him with the eyes of Death.

Terror took over his face. "W-W-Wait, vampire, listen to me!" He shouted in panic as he started taking steps backwards as Remilia slowly approached him.

"Save you breath. You'll need it in order to scream." Remilia said coldly.

"No! Listen! You have to listen to me. I have to mend the seal. You have to let me. If I don't then he will awaken and the world will come to a terrible end. Please, Miss Scarlet, listen to me when I say I only do what I do in order to keep the Earth safe." He said in a pleading manner.

"How honorable of you." Remilia said, not caring in the slightest of what Anton spoke of, except for one thing. "He… Do you mean the being that killed my father?"

"Y-Yes, of course." Anton answered in a trembling voice.

"After I am done with you, I will free my father's soul then destroy the thing that sleeps here." Remilia declared.

Anton froze still in horror. Quickly his expression turned to that of horrified anger. "You delusional fucking vampire! You cannot hope to destroy the Ancient One of R'lyeh! You will just make the exact same mistake your father made!" He screamed in perplexed anger. He fell backward onto his behind as his legs fell weak. He stared in terror at Remilia and Max and Joseph who stood behind her. He turned his eyes to Max and Joseph. "Don't let her do it! For the love of all Humanity, do not let her break that seal! If she does then nothing will stop that terrible God!" He cried out.

"Yup." Max said casually. "And not a single fuck will be given."

Anton slowly shook his head from side to side in dismay. "You are all insane. Absolutely insane!"

"Enough. It is time for you to get your just desserts." Remilia said then approached the trembling Anton, her hands ready to flay skin. Her teeth ready to rend flesh. Her claws ready to cut bone.

"If I may intervene for just a moment, milady." Joseph said as he placed a hand on Remilia's shoulder. "You have done more than your fair share of the work. Please allow me to deal with this one." He insisted with a grin.

Remilia had not said anything before Joseph had already moved between her an Anton. She very much wanted to torture the man herself, but she was genuinely curious about what Joseph had planned for him.

Joseph crouched down in front of the terrified Anton.

"Wha… What are you going to do?" Anton asked in a hushed voice.

Joseph said nothing, only grinned.

Remilia and Max watched in cautious anticipation from behind Joseph as he lifted his hood up, revealing his face to Anton. Anton's face slowly morphed to one of absolute horror. He began screaming, a scream that was then hideously twisted. Suddenly his face contorted and pulled unnaturally. His eyes swelled to a gruesome size then popped in a gooey mess. His screaming persisted as his skin shriveled up. Soon enough, Anton was nothing more than a dried up carcass, his face frozen in a perpetual state of horror.

Joseph pulled his hood back down over his face, stood up and turned around to face Remilia and Max. "There we go. All done." He said cheerfully.

Remilia looked at him with disgust while Max gaped stupidly.

Remilia couldn't help by let out a sigh of relief. She may have not killed Anton herself, but she thought it safe to assume that whatever it was that Joseph did to him it was worse than what she would have done. She was just happy the cultist was dead.

She quickly remembered Flandre. She turned around, spotting Flandre lying unconscious on the cold stone floor. She sprinted to her sister's side then dropped to her knees beside her. She held her up and began smothering her with kisses.

"You stupid stupid girl. How could you make your elder sister worry so much?" Remilia said to her unconscious sister, now almost in tears. She ceased her frantic kissing and embraced Flandre tightly. "You damn girl… How am I going to punish you for this?" She was very angry with her sister, but was too happy and relieved to finally have her back in her arms to yell at her.

After a brief moment hugging her sister, Remilia laid her down on the floor. She looked up to see Joseph quietly watching from afar. Max was standing with his arms crossed in front of him and looking away from her.

She heard something then. A distant small cry. She looked down at Flandre, thinking it was her, but it was not her. She looked up towards Joseph again, seeing that his grin had turned dark. She heard the cry again, moving her attention to the far wall of the room. She stood up and walked over to where she thought the cry was coming from. She stopped in front of the wall, immediately noticing a strange square pattern in the center of the wall. A dull light seemed to glaze over it periodically.

"What is this?" She found herself asking out loud.

"This, my dear, would be the seal that makes sure The Dreaming One remains sleeping."

Remilia jumped slightly from the sound of Joseph's voice from right behind her. She didn't turn around to face him and continued to observe the strange pattern in front of her.

"Can you hear them?" Joseph whispered.

Remilia turned to face Joseph with a bothered expression. "Hear who?"

"The cries of those sealed away. The countless souls that were used in the creation and mending of the sealing spell." Joseph said.

Remilia looked back at the wall more perplexed than before. She tried to hide how terrified she was, but it leaked out in her expression. She swallowed hard. "Is my father…" She hesitated to ask her question.

Joseph leaned down close to Remilia's ear. "Can you hear him, Remilia Scarlet? Can you?" He asked in a dark voice.

Remilia shook her head at Joseph's question. She could hear many distant cries coming from the wall, but they were indistinguishable from one another.

Joseph moved his lips to Remilia's other ear. "I can." He said, causing Remilia to tense up immensely. "Do you… Want to know what he is saying?" He asked quietly.

Remilia hesitated to answer. She was absolutely terrified at that moment and her thoughts were running wild in her mind. She wanted to smash the wall and free her father's soul from it. But at what consequence?

"Leave this place, Remilia."

Remilia snapped around to face Joseph, her face glazed over with terror and sweat. She knew it was he who had just spoken, but it was not his voice. It was her father's. She swore it was. She could never mistake it for someone else's. She looked for that obnoxious grin of Joseph's, but it could not be found. Joseph appeared to have a serious expression on.

"Did you ever stop to think of why Flandre had the kind of dream she had? And at such a peculiar moment in time?" Joseph asked, his serious face unchanging.

Max had overheard Joseph and rushed over to him and Remilia. He shoved Joseph out of the way and looked down at Remilia, looking rather nervous himself.

"Wait a minute. Is that why you are here? Because your sister had some stupid dream?" He asked, slowly looking like he could explode in a fit of anger.

"Um, Yes. She had a dream about my father telling her to come here." Remilia said.

Max looked horrified, but his horrified expression did not last. It quickly turned into anger as he turned his focus towards Joseph. "You son of a bitch. You never fucking told her, did you?" He scowled.

Remilia looked confused. She grabbed Max's wrist and got his attention back to her. "Tell me what?" She asked sternly.

Max hesitated to say anything, but after a couple of deep breaths he spoke up. "Remilia… Your dumb sister didn't have that dream by accident." He said, his words terrifying Remilia. "That sleeping bastard sent that dream to her because he knew you would be stupid enough to follow her here. He knew you would come and he knew you would break that seal. He wants YOU to free him."

"What? What are you talking about, Max?" Remilia asked.

Max placed his hands on Remilia's shoulders and stared into her worried eyes. "Cthulhu called for you, Remilia. He purposely lured you here by using your sister."

Remilia's eyes widened in horror from hearing the dreaded name of the one who slayed her farther. Her blood ran cold and she broke out into a cold sweat. She turned her head towards the seal on the wall, from where the cries came from. Somewhere behind that wall slept the killer of her father. Somewhere behind that wall was the being that drove her mother insane. Somewhere behind that wall waited the almighty Cthulhu. And he was waiting for her.

"Now it's the question of whether or not you will actually go through with it…" Joseph said plainly. "We have your sister and little Marisa. Is there any reason to save your fool of a father and doom the world?"

Max let go of Remilia's shoulders and walked away. Not really having an opinion of the matter, he waited quietly for what Remilia would do.

Remilia's eyes were glued to the seal on the wall. Many things ran vigorously through her mind. To walk away with her sister and leave her father trapped in R'lyeh? Or destroy the seal, thus freeing her father from his eternal prison, but also freeing the beast that slept beyond. Would she be able to defeat the thing her father couldn't? Or would she just die like he did, letting loose a being that would most certainly kill her sister soon after, along with the rest of the world.

Remilia was slowly sinking into the cold depths of fear and self-doubt that she struggled so hard to stay out of. Slowly she sank and slowly the dreaded hands of Cthulhu closed in all around her.


	12. Chapter 12 The Dreamer Awakens

The cold, dark room was filled with only quiet breathing and the beating of hearts. Blood poured from the many corpses of cultists that were thrown about the room. The blood filled the alien engravings on the floor, making the eerie markings more visible.

Struggling in her own mind, Remilia remained transfixed on the seal on the wall. The distant cries of the souls trapped within the wall seemed to be drawing closer as time went on. These cries however were completely ignored by Remilia. She couldn't care less for any soul bound to the seal save for her father's. Her ears were only open for the voice of her father, but as much as she tried to listen for it, she could not here it. He remained silent.

The question of whether or not she should break the seal to free her father was still raging in her thoughts. She tried to remain as rationally minded while trying to decide, but that was a long lost adventure. She tried as hard as she could, but her heart was filled to the brim in emotions, and they outweighed any sort of rationality.

Soon it got to the point where she wanted someone else to give her the answer. Flandre, being the obvious first choice to go to, was unfortunately unconscious and unable to help her in her mental battle. She wondered what her sister would do if faced with such a decision. She didn't think she would think it out much do to her not being the kind of person to think about long-term consequences. She wished she had her sister's mentality for just five seconds. It wouldn't even take her that long to smash the seal to pieces.

A sudden cough grabbed her attention. She turned her head to see that it was Joseph. Immediately she began to grow angry, angry at how he just stood there silently, waiting for her to make a decision she was sure he already knew. She suspected he may even know the outcome of whatever decision she would make. She wondered what outcome he desired and why. If only she knew.

His grin was, surprisingly, not there. His expression was plain, looking rather bored. He wasn't even looking in her direction. Regardless, she still wanted to walk over there and uppercut him right between the legs.

Marisa came to mind then. She could hardly believe it, but she strongly wished she was there beside her right now. She was sure she would argue against breaking the seal, either out of fear or hatred for her own father. Even if she didn't, she would be a little at ease knowing she had someone who would help fight the alien nightmare that slept beyond the wall.

Her attention then fell on Max. He stood in silence with his back to her, his arms folded across his chest and aimlessly looking around. She was somewhat surprised that he hadn't given his two cents, surprised he hadn't told her that she would be an idiot if she broke the seal, that she stood no chance against the beast that killed her father. She really wanted to know what he was thinking.

Max looked over his shoulder to see that Remilia was staring at him intently. He turned around and spoke. "Well? We gonna leave or what? I'm freezing my balls off here."

Remilia didn't reply to Max, but her focus remained on his face. She felt a little of the bitter cold being lifted as she gazed upon his face. She also felt a sting of pain in her heart as the face of her father slowly appeared over Max's face, staring down at her as if she had done something wrong and was about to punish her for it.

She thought of what her father would want of her. Would he be proud that his daughter came to save him? Would he be thankful and pat her on the head for a job well done? Or would he ridicule her for being an ignorant child and for potentially destroying the world?

With each question she asked herself the smaller she felt. It wasn't long before she was feeling much less like a noble vampire and more of a dumb girl.

A dark and terrible grown rumbled the walls around them. Max looked around as he grew more concerned with their situation. Remilia hugged herself as a sense of dread chilled her heart. Joseph stood as he was, remaining patient for what he knew would soon come.

Remilia's vampiric pupils had shrunk. Her grip on herself tightened. She stared out blankly as the dark image of a horrible being appeared in her vision. Anger poured into her heart, mixing in with her other motions as they slowly grew out of control. Her body was quivering. Her teeth clenched together.

Having lost his patience because of her indecision, Max walked up to Remilia and shoved her, sending her to the hard tone floor onto her rear-end and knocking her out of her deep thoughts.

Remilia winced from the painful fall then looked up and glared angrily at Max. "How dare you push me! How dare you even touch me!" She yelled as she scrambled back to her feet.

"We can't stay here forever. Wake up and make up your mind already." Max said while glaring back at Remilia.

A look of shock suddenly appeared on his face when he noticed something. Remilia's eyes were watering up. Quickly the water swelled and began pouring from her eyes, down her cheeks and to the black floor.

Remilia tried to hold back the flood of tears, but she couldn't even slow them let alone stop them. Her heart had broken loose, unleashing her swirling ocean of emotions that had been building up inside. She continued to glare at Max even as her vision blurred from the tears, her teeth still clenched.

"Y-You think this is easy for me?! Do you think I can easily decide what the best course of action is just like that?! Do you?! Well I can't! I just can't!" Remilia shouted in disarray.

Max stood silently with his jaw hanging, dumbfounded. Then the guilt hit and he scrambled to think of what to say.

"Wait. Hold on, Remilia. I didn't mean-"

"I-I am the first born child of Victor Scarlet! I MUST set him free from this place! What kind of daughter would I be if I just abandoned him?!" She yelled, her voice beginning to crack up as her tears continued to flow with no signs of stopping.

Max's expression turned to gloom, having had no idea just how hard it was for her to make the decision. Seeing her in tears was a shock for him. Having only known her for a short time, he thought her far too stubborn to show such tears, yet here she was, breaking down right in front of him. He didn't like seeing her like this. It only made him feel terrible.

"I want to free him! I have to! But I'm… But I'm…" Remilia hugged herself as she started to shake again, that awful chill having gotten stronger and it only grew stronger and more intense. She then began to say things she thought would never leave her lips. "I'm scared… I'm scared of that thing… How can I beat that thing… when my great father couldn't?"

Max didn't know what to say. He thought about lying to her, if only to help her regain her confidence and get her back to her normal self, but lying was not in his character, and he was sure she would see through the lie the instant it was spoken. He wanted to just tell her the truth so maybe she would leave R'lyeh and go home, but he didn't want her to leave and take a huge regret along with her. He too had fallen into a dilemma.

With her watery eyes, Remilia stared deeply in Max's eyes, hoping for an answer that would solve everything from her. Of course, such an answer would not come, but she continued to hope for the impossible like a troubled child would.

"How can I save my father… without freeing that thing?" She asked, her eyes pleading for a favorable answer.

Max's glum expression faded. He put on a stubbornly stern expression and huffed, trying not to let his own distress show at all for Remilia's sake.

"So you're scared, huh? And? That didn't stop you before. That didn't stop you from dragging me across different dimensions that one time, even with me telling you of the horrible shit we could have ended up facing. Oh wait! We fucking did end up seeing some fucked up things. And what did you do? You fought on. Like the stubborn little asshole that you are, you fought on. So why the fuck is it suddenly different this time? The fuck you crying for, huh?" He said vehemently.

Remilia was surprised with the sudden antagonizing stance Max had taken against her. "Are… Are you trying to tell me to fight that thing?" She asked hesitantly.

Max shook his head. "I'm telling you to do whatever the hell you want to do. There is no one here that can judge you for your decision." He said.

Remilia turned around to face the seal on the wall. "What would happen to the world if I failed to kill that thing?" She asked. She wasn't sure why she bothered asking a question she already had an answer to.

"Fuck the world." Max said bluntly.

"It would burn…" Joseph said grimly.

Remilia gave it one final thought as the tears continued to fall. The image of her father stood right in front of her, but behind him was the horrible shadow of The Dead Dreamer. So easily she could free him, but so easily could she bring the end to the world.

She suddenly heard the taunting, shrieking laughter of The Crawling Chaos coming from somewhere in the back of her mind, reminding her of when that eldritch horror had nearly brought the end of the world herself in her rebellion against her lord.

She also remembered The Crawling Chaos's defeat at the hands of a scared boy.

Remilia clenched her teeth as anger reemerged within her. She used that anger in an attempt to smother her fear. With her focus on the seal, her hand reached into her dress pocket and slowly pulled out a spell card.

Max let out a sigh, one of both relief and grief, after seeing her pull out a spell card and backed away from Remilia, knowing that she had finally come to a decision.

Joseph's dark grin was making a reappearance as he watched the young vampire.

The spell card in Remilia's hand burst into blood red flames. The flames quickly began circling around her right arm. Her red aura formed around her as her magical energies poured out from the blood in her veins.

As a grand weapon took shape in her right hand, memories of her father came to her. She remembered when she would run into his private study room when he was hard at work inside just to bother him. She remembered the times when he would pat her on the head for doing something that made him happy. As few times as they were, she remembered each time well. She remembered when he would scold her and Flandre when he would catch them snooping in his study room. And then there was her oldest memory and the only memory she had of being a human: the moment when he embraced her and turned her into a vampire. It remained her most vivid and beloved memory to this day.

A spear whose handle was twice as long as Remilia was tall and a blade that was so large it would seem impractical for actual use in combat if it were a normal spear had been created from the aura that burned wildly around Remilia.

Remilia clenched the handle of the spear tightly in her right hand, feeling her own power running in and out of it. Suddenly, a small giggle escaped her.

Max raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing." Remilia said, wiping some tears away as they slowly ran down her face. "Just remembering how bad of a girl I was growing up."

Max smirked as he held in a laugh. "You? A bad girl? No~, surely, no~. I was sure you were an innocent little angel this entire time." He said sarcastically, earning another giggle from Remilia.

Remilia's content expression turned into a serious one as she focused her full attention on the seal. She held the spear up behind her as she prepared to throw.

"This isn't the right decision is it?" Remilia asked.

"Heh heh. Nope. When you throw that… We're fucked." Max said facetiously.

Remilia grinned as she expected no other answer from Max. She then threw the spear with all of her might.

"Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir"!" She called out her attack in a booming voice.

In a blinding flash of red light, the grand spear left her hands one instant and struck the wall the next. The spear hit the dead center of the wall, a ripple of red and pale white running outward from the point of impact. Red sparks and twisting winds danced wildly around the spear as its momentum remained strong against the seal. The seal on the wall was resisting the force from the traveling spear, but it soon gave way as cracks began to appear. The many alien symbols littering the wall popped one by one out of existence. The room itself rumbled as the integrity of the seal was finally broken and the spear pierced through. A large hole was left in the middle of the wall and shortly after the rest of the wall crumbled to the floor, revealing a long dark tunnel behind where the seal once was.

Remilia stood in silence as many small dim lights floated around her, souls that were finally freed. She could hear them speak, praising her and thanking her for releasing them, but not one voice was the voice she wanted to hear. Not one was that of her fathers. The souls departed shortly after, their light fading away. She would never know what her father would think of her at that moment. She would never hear his words of praise or words of condemnation. She was left to wonder for the rest of her life.

Her fists began to shake at her sides, her tears picking back up. Then it happened. Her legs fell weak, sending her to her knees. She laid her forehead on the floor and covered the rest of her face with her arms and began to sob.

Max watched depressed as Remilia cried. Joseph showed no interest and stood as he was.

"Papa… Papa…" Remilia wept. "I'm so sorry, Papa… I'm so sorry… Such a despicable daughter I am…" She lamented.

Max approached Remilia then crouched down next to her, softly placing his hands on her shoulders. He went to speak, but his words failed to leave his lips, forcing him to remain silent in the face of Remilia's mourning.

"You knew… I told you about my father. I told you… and you never told me…" Remilia said as she cried, her arms tightening around her as she tried to keep any of her tears from showing.

"Remilia…" Max gently tried to pull her up, trying to get her to show her face, but she refused. "I didn't know your father was trapped here. I had no idea." He said.

He pulled a little harder on Remilia's shoulders, succeeding in getting her to sit up and reveal her tear-covered face. She refused to face him though and instead kept her eyes low towards the floor where her tears fell. He softly grabbed her chin and pulled her eyes to him. Getting a glimpse of her sorrowful eyes made his heart sink further.

"Listen, Remilia. I'm really sorry about what happened to your father, but we have to get out'a here. We can't stay here." He said with a stern expression.

Remilia looked back at the floor as her tears slowly came to an end. She snorted a couple times as she took a few moments to calm herself down. She knew what she had done and she knew it was her responsibility and hers alone.

"Such a distasteful sight, seeing someone of such a proud race break down into petty tears." Joseph said, sounding awfully disappointed.

With his teeth clenched in anger, Max shot up to his feet as he turned to face Joseph. He reached for one of his plasma guns, more than ready to put a hole in Joseph's head, but was stopped when Remilia grabbed him by the hand. He turned back to her, glaring at her angrily for stopping him.

Remilia released Max and stood up. She then approached Joseph, glaring dead into his hidden eyes. Two watery lines where her tears traveled from her eyes were still visible, but she didn't care about them anymore. She stopped close in front of Joseph, closer than she normally would have gotten to the robed man.

"You think you know everything there is to know about me? You think you know already how all of this will play out?" Remilia said sternly, her eyes burning scarlet red. "Allow me to be the one to tell you that you have no idea what can happen or will happen. What it is to happen is for me to decide, I who can manipulate fate on a whim."

Joseph let out a cruel dark laugh. With his grin present, he bent forward, placing his face close to Remilia's. "Manipulation of Fate, eh? I am afraid I am not impressed by such an ability, Miss Scarlet. How can I when countless eldritch gods can so easily crush your feeble little attempts to change what they have already set in motion?" He said.

"Allow me to give you a demonstration then. Allow me to show you that what you know and what I do not know cannot frighten me away." Remilia said.

Joseph struggled from letting his grin form into a depraved smile. "Please then, milady… Show me…" He said then stood back up straight.

Remilia huffed, dismissing Joseph's confidence in his knowledge. She turned and faced Max.

"Max, I will need you to watch over my younger sister." She said.

"She'll be fine where she's at. Worst thing that can happen to her is some random Deep One showing up and slipping it in her." Max said plainly.

"Wha-What?!" Remilia exclaimed as she became flustered. "I do not want such a thing to happen to her so I demand that you defend her!" She yelled.

"I will take her to where we left little Marisa. Heh heh… Not that it will be any safer…" Joseph said then vanished into thin air before Remilia could voice her rejection.

Remilia growled. "Damn that bastard…"

A thundering roar was heard. It shook the open room greatly, sending cracks all across the floor and walls. Remilia and Max struggled to maintain balance until the quake ended.

Max sighed. "We are so screwed…"

Remilia walked up to Max. "You don't think I can beat that monster, do you?" She asked.

"I know you can't beat that thing." Max said sourly.

Remilia became angry with Max, not liking how pessimistic he was being. Not that he wasn't that way before his death. She just thought he would be a little more optimistic after she had torn The Unspeakable One from him and saving him from being trapped in another dimension, but that seemed not to be the case. He actually seemed more bitter than before for whatever reason. Having a second person tell her what was and was not possible was the last thing she wanted.

"Hmph. If you feel that way then do as I say and take my sister and leave this place." She strongly suggested.

"HA! Hell no! I ain't leaving this place without you and your sorry little behind." Max said.

Remilia's cheeks reddened a little. She was a little surprised about his refusal to leave without her even if she was sure it was mostly out of stupidity and arrogance. She couldn't deny that she was happy he was determined to stay with her. She didn't want to be alone in the cold city for one second. She was sure that the moment she thought herself alone would be the moment she would lose her mind.

"Well I am happy you wish to help me, Max, but you should not force yourself." She insisted.

"Help you? There ain't a damn thing I can do to help."

"Eh?" Remilia looked confused.

"What? Did you forget? I'm powerless, remember?"

"Oh… Yes. Yes, of course."

It did escape her for a short moment that Max no longer had an Outer God sleeping within him and thus no longer had its powers. One look at his brown eyes was all she needed to remember. He was just a normal man now. The only thing that he still had of the Outer God was its medallion that he was still wearing for some reason. She was sure he wouldn't want to be near that medallion if he didn't have to. She could only guess that the medallion still held some sort of purpose.

She asked herself if it was for the best that he no longer had those horrid powers despite how useful they would have been in combating The Dead Dreamer. Of course it was. Having an Outer God hidden right beneath their noses nearly destroyed them once before. She would make sure that wouldn't happen again.

She felt the need to ask him about how he was alive and about the medallion then and there, but Joseph had decided to return at that moment. It was obvious Joseph had something to do with Max's return and was ready to violently force all the answers she demanded from him, but the angry roar of The Dead Dreamer boomed once again, rattling her mind and body.

"Still having trouble on whether or not you want to face the killer of your father, young vampire?" Joseph asked sweetly, which only agitated Remilia.

She ignored Joseph and headed for the hallway unveiled after she destroyed the seal with Joseph right behind her and Max reluctantly following them.

The hallway was dark and ominous. It was barely lit up by the many alien symbols scattered across the walls, floor and ceiling. They glowed a dim gray light and hummed an unholy sound. As the group continued down the hallway, the symbols would pop like light-bulbs behind them, leaving only eternal darkness and nowhere for them to turn back to. There was only the path in front of them to tread on.

"Hold on to your hearts, dear children, for The Dead Dreamer is no longer dead. Soon his dreams will cover the Earth and soon… you will be chanting his name for the rest of eternity." Joseph said ambiguously.

Remilia and Max tried to ignore him, but his words none the less disturbed them greatly.

The howls of the Ancient One of R'lyeh grew louder the further they walked. Their frequentness rose as well as the quakes. The intensity of the roars and the fear they instilled increased. The sound of ocean waves made their way to their ears.

Remilia trembled in fearful anticipation, her imagination running wild with images of what she would find at the end of the hallway. Soon she no longer would need her imagination as the hallway came to an end.

They at last came to what looked like an impossibly vast cavern, greeted by mind-numbingly cold and powerful winds. The black stone floor ended with a raging ocean that seemed to go on for an eternity. High in the sky was what looked like swirling black clouds in place what Remilia thought should be the ceiling of the giant cavern. Lightning shot down from the boiling clouds in the distance. The flash of light produced by the periodic lightning showed more horrifically amazing things littering about out in the far ocean. Gargantuan towers of black stone rose from the violent waters, the tops of most of them disappearing into the black clouds above.

Remilia stood in shock and gaping in terrified wonder at the impossible sight. She told herself over and over again that it was simply impossible for such a place to exist underneath the dark oceans. She was beginning to think that they were no longer on Earth, but somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Very, very far.

Max himself was quite surprised at the sight, but otherwise remained somewhat calm. Joseph simply admired the view.

"Impossible…" Remilia spoke her thoughts. She felt the air in her lungs being sucked out when she spoke. "How can such a place exist?"

Joseph chuckled. "Welcome, Remilia Scarlet. Welcome… to the interior of the Nightmare-Corpse City of R'lyeh." He said.

"Well… It ain't The Void or Carcosa, but it still freaks me the fuck out." Max said, shaking nonstop from the chilling winds.

Remilia couldn't stop herself from looking out at the never ending ocean and at the eldritch towers that coated the horizon. Everything she saw horrified her. It was all just too much for even her vampiric mind to comprehend. Why did she come to such a dreadful place? She had forgotten at first glance.

A horrible groan echoing in her mind quickly reminded her.

Remilia scanned the vast place for any sight of an alien being. It was then she felt it, something pulling on her mind and at her heart. She found her feet moving her closer to the edge of the ocean. She continued staring out into the black horizon, bewitched by the sight. Her feet walked her closer to the edge, but they didn't stop there. Remilia was one step away from walking off the edge of the smoothed-out cliff and falling to her doom before Max grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back. She let out a painful cry from the sudden pull of her hair.

"Jesus Christ, Remilia! Watch where you're stepping, you moron!" Max yelled at her.

Remilia wanted to start yelling at him, but she was too focused on finding the abomination she knew to be there. She looked down at the ocean as it smashed against the side of the cliff. Again she felt a strange pull. It was as if something was trying to pull her down into the black depths below. If Max wasn't holding onto her by her shoulders then the strange pull might have succeeded. She was bewildered and terrified of it all.

"Will you stop trying to commit suicide already?" Max demanded as he kept pulling Remilia back to him.

"Where? Where is it? It is there, is it not?" Remilia asked in a dread-consumed voice, her eyes hooked on the ocean below. Her expression was overtaken with fear.

"_RE~MI~LI~A~!"_

Remilia's pupils shrunk and her face paled when she heard a deep, dark and terrible voice call out her name inside her head. It was then she could feel something looking up at her from underneath the black waters. The hidden eyes had a hold of her, pulling at her, consuming her.

"_RE~MI~LI~A~!"_

"What is that?" She asked in a trembling voice.

Another quake hit, the most powerful quake yet. Max fell backwards onto his behind with Remilia falling onto his lap. Joseph was somehow managing to stand as normal despite the powerful tremors. His grin had become insane looking.

Remilia and Max felt their muscles freeze when they felt a heinous presence.

It was then something could be seen far out in the ocean. The surface was beginning to rise, rising slowly into a humongous bulge. The water was acting more like a black slime as it appeared to roll off the sides of the bulge.

Remilia and Max could only watch in terrified anticipation as the bulge continued to grow.

"I know it's pointless at this point, but I'll ask again… Can we please get the fuck out of here?" Max asked, having become terrified of the coming Cosmic Horror.

"We… Can't…" Remilia said, having accepted that reality.

Just when the black watery bulge reached its final size, the powerful quakes died down. The giant bulge remained as it was for several seconds until the thing underneath the blackness began to be uncovered.

Two distorted, draconic wings burst out from the back of the bulge, flapping wildly and creating a living wind that howled an alien hatred. A grotesquely pulpy and scaly body was the next to be uncovered as the black water rolled off. Two monstrous arms were folded in an X across the chest. The hands had five long, sickly fingers that ended with abominable talons. Thin skin was stretched across between each finger. Finally the most horrible feature of the entity began to appear. As the last of the black water poured off the being's head, a pair of white, glowing orbs appeared. Two more appeared above the first pair and then a third pair of larger white orbs appeared above the second pair. The last of the black ocean ran off the being, revealing its tentacled head, the glowing white orbs that were its eyes arranged like that of a mutant spider. The thing then moved, almost appearing to be stretching, and then a most horrible and cruel howl was unleashed from its flabby maw.

The thing's vile breath crashed against the horrified faces of Remilia and Max. Joseph burst out into a maniacal laugh, taking in sick enjoyment at the sight of the awakened god.

Remilia could not believe what she was seeing. The being that had killed her father was far worse than she ever could have imagined, far too horrible to behold. The gigantic entity's alien form was impossible for her to fully describe.

Remilia's mouth opened to scream, but no sound came. She found herself screaming at the sight of the horrifying creature. Not out loud, but inside her head.

Joseph ceased his mindless laughter to speak once more. "There is no escaping. No hope. Only Cthulhu."

Thunder and lightning exploded relentlessly in the dead sky as The Dead Dreamer known as Cthulhu unleashed his soul-shattering roar, awake to once again drown the Earth in mind-defying dreams and eldritch nightmares.


	13. Chapter 13 The Terror of Cthulhu

The now free Cthulhu, an ancient subconscious source of constant anxiety for all life on Earth, especially so for Remilia, reached out into the dark sky with its alien hand then clenched its fist. There was a crack of thunder that was followed by a bolt of green lightning from the black clouds. The bolt flew into the being's fist, lighting it up like a newborn star. The being's fist glowed as it boiled in hot green flames before it unleashed a storm of green lightning. The arcs of lightning shot out in random directions, scattering about in the eldritch world. One such arc of lightning vanished into the horizon, consumed by the never ending darkness. Another crashed into the side of one of the many incredibly large towers. An explosion of green fire and sparks resulted, leading to the black stone cracking and crumbling around the impact sight. As the stone continued to crumble away, the entire tower began to tilt and before long the towering black structure fell behind the great being and into the dark ocean, unleashing a tidal wave out in every direction. The giant wave was nothing in comparison to the horrible god, as it simply broke harmlessly against it.

Remilia remained seated in Max's lap, watching in confused terror as the mighty Cthulhu called down another bolt of lightning from the sky that was drawn into his fist, another blast of arcs of lightning emitting outward soon after. One of the arcs of lightning bounced across the surface of the ocean, coming dangerously close to hitting where they sat, but she paid no attention to it, her eyes stuck on the eldritch abomination standing far out in the evil ocean before her.

She was still trying to take in the existence of the monstrosity, her head pounding severely from the sight of the thing. Her vision became blurry, feeling sick. But regardless of the sick feeling, she rose to her feet, her legs fighting against her along the way. She realized fully then that breaking that seal was not what she should have done and she regretted it terribly, but she knew if she hadn't then she would have felt an equal amount of regret anyways for not saving her father. There was just no winning for her in that regard. Both decisions lead to regret and pain.

"Mighty Cthulhu grows stronger every second you remain complacent, Miss Scarlet. If you are going to make the silly attempt at defeating him then you better do so quickly. If he succeeds in forcing R'lyeh to the surface then consider the world lost, along with your entire family and friends." Joseph said while trying to refrain from breaking into laughter.

Remilia gave no signal that she heard Joseph and continued to stare off at the awakened Ancient One. To her it was impossible to tell just how much power the creature possessed. Its alien energies were throwing all of her senses out of whack and confusing her immensely. The only semi-workable senses she had were that of sight and hearing, but the sight was just too horrible and the unholy howls coming from the alien god went painfully to her heart. With such a powerful enemy in front of her, an enemy she herself unleashed, she had no idea where to even begin her fight with it, assuming there could even be a fight with such a mind-boggling creature.

To her despair, her fight with eldritch entities in the past had done nothing to prepare her for a fight with this one. She realized that there was nothing in the world that could have prepared her for an encounter with the slayer of her father. The dream of avenging her father was nothing more than a nightmare in disguise.

She heard it then, over the roaring winds that were tainted with the breath of Cthulhu, the aggravating chuckling of Joseph behind her. Even with a boulder of despair slowly crushing her, hearing his taunting laughter fed her rage, giving her the power to keep that boulder from crushing her completely.

"Getting cold feet, Milady?" Joseph asked slyly before chuckling again.

Remilia wished to slash the hood-faced man's throat greatly. She convinced herself to wait until after she defeated the great alien, but rather or not she actually could was something she was very unsure of now, almost positive that she couldn't. The reward of gloating in the man's face as she slowly peeled off his skin for defeating the alien suddenly became a helpful little motivator for her.

Regardless of her newfound determination, Remilia could not get her body to move at her command. It was completely paralyzed and locked in place.

Another streak of green lightning bounced off the ocean surface and nearly struck where they stood, causing Max's nervousness to grow. He jumped to his feet when Remilia was still standing where she was, frozen in place. He raced up behind her and grabbed her by her hips, surprising her.

"What are you-?!"

"Don't pussy out on me now, Remilia! Get out there and fight!" He yelled as he threw her up into the air.

Remilia's wings got to flapping to keep her hovering in the air. After the short-lived panic, she regained control of them as well as the rest of her body. She looked out at the colossal alien then clenched her fists, resolve coming back to her despite the terrible fear that ravaged her. Without looking back, she took off towards her greatest fear.

Max remained behind, powerless to help and left with only the ability to watch and wait. Joseph walked up beside him, his sight focused on the flying vampire.

"Such a shame…" Joseph, to Max's aggravation, spoke. "It really is a pity to have to watch the destruction of a beautiful creature such as her, don't you agree, young man?" He asked then got a painful jab to the side of his gut.

"Shut up, fuckface." Max scowled.

Joseph rubbed his injured side and grinned. "No need to pretend she has a chance at slaying the mighty Cthulhu. I know you know that it is impossible by herself." He said. Max punched him again, harder this time. He struggled to remain on his feet as he tried to get his air back.

"I fucking know that already, but she don't need to kill it. Just needs to survive." Max said, his eyes focused on the vampire that was but a small red dot against a black horizon now.

Joseph laughed hoarsely, making Max sneer in annoyance. "That chance is rather grim already… and it will only get worse as time goes on." He said only to again get a punch to the gut, this one sending him to his knees as he clenched his stomach.

"Just shut up and watch before I kick your fucking teeth in." Max said bitterly.

Max did not hold a lot of hope, almost none at all, but the little bit he had was a much needed flicker of light against the all-consuming shroud of despair that was threatening to devour him at any second. He already regretted not forcing, at least try to force, Remilia out of R'lyeh. He wished to do something to assist Remilia, but did the only thing he could do; he gritted his teeth and waited for whatever outcome that was to come.

Remilia was fast in her flight towards the Cosmic Horror that was Cthulhu. As she drew closer to the terrible being, its true size came into light. His form grew larger and larger as she approached it as did the black towers. He was already gigantic looking from a distance, but getting closer showed that to be a deceiving sight. Her resolve was shaken by the real size of the Horror, but she pressed on.

Remilia came to a sudden stop when she noticed the being starting to move. The monstrous giant pushed through the black waters with whatever it was it used to move underneath the ocean. She flew up until she was in the monster's face, the monster itself not ceasing its dark march. Looking directly into the eerie light of its large eyes made her queasy. She ignored the sick feeling and pulled out a spell card.

"Mighty Cthulhu!" She called out to the beast, determined to be heard over the sound of waves crashing against the base of the being. "I am Remilia Scarlet, first daughter of Victor Scarlet and Octavia Scarlet! You killed my father! Prepare to die!" Her spell card burned brightly before turning to ash, filling her with its unlocked power. "Night Sign "Queen of Midnight"!"

With Remilia's declaration, several red spell circles of large size formed behind her. From the circles came forth an endless barrage of red circular danmaku both big and small. As large the horde of danmaku was, it was no bigger than one of the larger eyes of Cthulhu, but those eyes were exactly where the danmaku were aimed at. The red balls of vampiric power splashed against the being's two larger eyes like large droplets of rain against a hard surface. She kept up her spell card, empowering it further with more of her power and creating larger, more powerful danmaku. After several moments, her spell ceased.

Remilia's attack was a direct hit, but she wasn't happy with the results. Even with an attack on one of Cthulhu's eyes, a spot she was sure was the weakest point she could see on the nightmarish entity, she was unable to hurt it at all. In fact, Cthulhu didn't even flinch and continued its march forward.

Remilia grinded her teeth when she suspected the thing wasn't even aware she was there.

"You bastard… How dare you ignore me…" She growled, her rage boiling. "I will teach you why even eldritch beings like you should fear my race!"

Remilia charged forward towards one of the Horror's glowing eyes. She held out her hands and extended her nails, getting them ready to tear into the giant. She pushed herself to her maximum speed with the intent of driving her nails deep into the being's eye and ripping it out of its skull. Just as she held one claw behind her in preparation for her attack, a flash of light, seemingly from the Horror's eyes, blinded her. Her attack was halted by the sudden flash, leaving her to thrash around wildly in the air with her eyes covered with her hands and crying out from the painful burning the flash left in her eyes.

"Augh! Ga~h! You son of a bitch!" She cursed the monster.

She slowly removed her hands from her eyes as the pain subsided and the white light faded. She waited for Cthulhu to come back into view, but she was surprised to see a different sight in front of her.

When her vision returned to her, Remilia was no longer flying in the air in front of a gigantic Horror. She wasn't even in the same horrible place she was in just a second before the flash. Where she was was much different.

Remilia was now standing in a hallway of a building. The walls to her left and right were made of red brick, very similar to the ones found within her own home.

"Where… What is this place?" She asked herself as she looked around confused.

The hallway had a few doors further down from where she stood. Behind her was a set of stairs that lead to the next floor below. To her left was a table with a vase and flowers within it. She looked at this table strangely then walked up to it. The table was a very normal looking table, but what bothered her was how large it seemed to be to her. She couldn't reach up to grab one of the flowers if she wanted to. She knew she was a short girl, but not that short.

Remilia turned her attention to the sound of a crying infant coming from somewhere further down the hallway. Curious, she decided to search for the source of the crying.

Her eyes kept looking around as she walked, suspicious of everything around her. She replayed what was happening a few minutes ago in her head, trying to figure out how she came to where she was now. She was very confused, unable to figure out what exactly was going on.

The crying got louder and soon she came to a door where the crying came from. The door was larger than it should have been to her. Hell, the hallway itself was larger in her eyes. She didn't know why everything appeared bigger to her and simply pushed that issue aside. Determined to find out who was making that god-awful sound, she reached up for the doorknob and turned it.

Remilia slowly pushed the door opened and walked into the room. The room appeared to be a bedroom of some sorts at first glance. In the middle of the room was what looked to be a crib. The crying sounds came from within the crib. There was also two people standing in front of the crib, one a man and the other a woman dressed like fifteenth century European nobles. They both were really tall compared to her, making her feel small and insignificant. The man and woman were standing over the crib, looking down at whatever laid within.

Remilia cautiously approached the two people. "E-Excuse me, sir and madam, I am afraid that I have become lost. Would you please tell me where I am?" She asked politely, but a bit nervously as well.

She jumped in surprise when the two turned around at the same time. To her bewilderment, the faces of the man and woman appeared to be covered in some kind of blur that hid their identity. She backed away a little, wanting to keep her distance from the strange people.

"Oh, Remilia my dear, why the long delay? Come here and see your new little sister." The woman said.

Remilia froze where she stood. The voice of the woman was creepily familiar to her.

"Ma… Mother?" She nearly choked on her words.

"Yes, dear. Come over here." The woman that sounded like her long dead mother demanded softly.

"Come, Remilia. You are going to need to see your little sister eventually." The man said.

Remilia's heart painfully skipped a beat upon hearing the man speak in a voice that belonged to her father and him alone. She clenched at her chest and started to sweat.

"Father… But how?" She asked fearfully.

The woman giggled. "That discussion will be for when you are older, my dear child." She said then turned her attention to the infant that continued to cry in the crib. "Now now, Flandre. Your elder sister has arrived. No need to cry now. Smile for her, would you please?" She said soothingly.

Remilia's heart was beating rapidly now, more sweat pouring down her face. The two people with blurred faces sounded exactly like her parents, but neither of them appeared to have their signature wings as vampires. It was strange to her, especially since the woman referred to the infant crying in the crib as Flandre.

"What? Flandre? Where am-"

"Goodness heavens, Remilia, look at you. You are all sweaty. Fix yourself up." The man demanded.

"Now, Dear. She was probably playing just now. Five year olds tend to do that." The woman said to the man.

"Even so. She should know by now that she needs to clean herself up after she is done playing." The man said, sounding upset.

Remilia's heart made a loud thump, so loud it cut out the crying of the infant for a short moment.

"Five… years…" She said quietly in disbelief.

An unnatural pull yanked her attention to a large mirror on the far right wall. She gaped when she saw a small child with a pale and sweaty face staring back at her. It was herself, minus her vampiric features, that stood in the mirror, but she found that to be impossible.

"Who… Who are you?" She found herself asking the person in the mirror.

The expression of the child in the mirror changed after she asked her question. It went to utter fear, much like Remilia's expression was now, to a dark, malicious grin. The eyes of the child glowed an unholy white light. It then spoke in a most disturbing voice.

"I'm everything you feared… Everything you now fear… Everything you will fear…" The child echoed, a warped laugh following after.

Fear consumed Remilia at that moment and she began to quickly back away from the child in the mirror, shaking her head in disbelief, disbelief in the fact she was somehow remembering a memory that should have died when she first died, when she became a vampire.

She ended up backing straight into the crib and knocking it over, sending the infant that was crying within it to the floor.

"Watch where you are going, Remilia." The woman said, but her voice was distant now, even though she was standing an arm's length away from Remilia.

The crying of the infant pulled Remilia's attention from the child in the mirror and to itself. Remilia turned to see the baby on its stomach. She slowly approached it as the baby cried, terrified of it yet yearning to hold it in her arms like she did once so very long ago. The entire situation with Cthulhu had vanished from her mind at that point. Not only that, the existence of Gensokyo had somehow vanished from her mind as well as her servants and friends she had there. All her memories as a vampire had suddenly disappeared.

Remilia smiled like a happy and excited little girl and reached down to pick up the baby. "I'm so sorry, Flandre. Don't cry. Sister Remilia is right here now." She said in a childish voice.

All of her memoires of Gensokyo, the memories of the Incident of Horrors and of course the memory of the Dead Dreamer came flooding back to her the second she looked upon the face of the baby in her arms.

Remilia's face turned to utter horror with the snap of one of the strings that held her sanity together.

No eyes were present in the infant's eye sockets. Only a deep dark void filled them with blood around the edges of the sockets. Tears of blood ran down its face and passed a mouth that was open to gruesome size like that of a person shouting in absolute misery. The thing then shrieked a flesh-burning and ear-piercing shriek.

Remilia's scream that followed could not be heard over the sound of the terrible shriek as everything went dark all around them.

Remilia continued to scream when a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky nearby. The sudden boom of lightning snapped her out of her mindless scream. She first noticed the disappearance of the infant in her arms before realizing where she was. She was floating in the black sky with bubbling black clouds above her and a raging sea below.

"What… What was that?" She asked, sweat still pouring from her pale face.

She turned around to see Cthulhu slowly making its way through the ocean. She glared angrily at the thing, realizing what had just happened was all just an illusion, a hallucination possibly brought on by the Dead Dreamers powers. That or by her own mind going weak. Or both. She didn't know which, but she was determined not to let that happened again and flew off to continue her assault on the monster.

Cthulhu's wings were incredibly intimidating to Remilia. The wings would barely twitch and yet still produce howling winds with the strength to move earth and rock. She couldn't help but admire the wings, regardless how disgusting they looked.

She pulled out a spell card as she caught up to the beast. "God Art "Vampire Illusion"!" She declared.

A ripple radiated forward from her, twisting into a tight spin. Countless small red danmaku followed with larger danmaku mixed in with them. The mass of danmaku spiraled towards the Horror, the spiral aimed at the center between where its wings were attached to its back. They hit their mark, bombarding the same spot with countless red explosions.

"Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir"!" She shouted.

Remilia formed a giant spear from her red aura above her head then threw it down the center of her ongoing spell. The spear spun with the danmaku, turning into a flying drill storm. The spinning spear exploded against the being's green scaly back, sending out red shrapnel and fire.

Her spell ended, letting her see the damage she was able to cause, which was nonexistent. She expected this though, her desired result being something a bit simpler.

Cthulhu stopped where it was and looked over its shoulder at Remilia, a low, rumbling groan of irritation flowing from underneath the many tentacles that covered its maw.

Remilia grinned. "There, you bastard. Know that I am here now?" She asked the Horror.

Cthulhu looked back forward then flapped once with its giant wings. An air burst like that of a powerful nuclear device was unleashed, shredding stone from the surface of the alien towers and tearing apart the water molecules of the ocean on its surface.

Remilia poured her power into her aura, increasing its size to use it as a shield and braced for the incoming blast. Her aura was stripped off her the instant it hit, but otherwise kept her from being utterly destroyed. She was sent flying backwards, tumbling through the air before forcing herself to a stop.

"Damn it… Treating me like nothing more than a household fly…" Remilia growled angrily as her bones, fractured from the air burst, quickly healed.

She took off towards the great being once again with a burst of power. She landed on its left shoulder then declared another spell card.

"Scarlet Sign "Scarlet Meister"!"

She took aim at the side of Cthulhu's gargantuan head, pointed both of her palms at it then opened fire.

One burst of red danmaku followed another in rapid session, hitting and exploding against the being's head. She didn't let up her attack even when the thing made no visual cue that it was being bothered by it. She put more energy into it, the amount of danmaku and their size increasing with each individual burst. After a dozen of cannon fire, the thing's right arm began to move. She was forced back into flight when the thing tried to brush her off its shoulder.

Remilia flew straight up, avoiding the giant, webbed hand. Her cannon bursts continued as she flew up and above the alien's head. Dozens and dozens of danmaku bursts pounded the creature's head as she flew to its right shoulder, landing and firing upon the right side of its head.

Cthulhu brought its left hand up to swat Remilia off of it. Remilia was ready for it and prepared to do a rinse and repeat with it, but she wasn't ready for when her legs suddenly became tangled in mossy tentacles that grew out of the being's green hide, holding her in place.

"What?! What the hell is this?!" Remilia exclaimed as she tried to free herself from the tentacles.

She went to cut the tentacles with her extended nails to free herself, but it was too late. With its sickly finger, Cthulhu flicked her off its shoulder, blasting her through the air and into the side of one of the towering spires.

Remilia hit the tower hard, creating a hole in the shape of her in it. She pulled herself out, groaning and moaning in pain. Her head was pounding and her body trembling from the tremendous physical blow it took. She was surprised she didn't just explode into a bloody splat on the surface of the tower.

She shook her head to get rid of the blurriness in her vision, but when her vision became clear, she saw not the ocean or the Cosmic Horror, but a field of green and a dark sky with a full moon in it. A red mist was covering the land as well as a lake that was further out passed what looked like a wall. She blinked several times, thinking her eyes we playing tricks on her, but when the new scenery did not vanish, she scanned the area around her to see what this new place was. To her confusion, the place was not new at all. It looked like she was back in Gensokyo at her mansion. The red mist stuck out more than anything.

"This red mist… is my red mist…" She said sadly.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sudden burst of magic she felt.

There was a flash of white light in the corner of Remilia's eye. She didn't bother looking to see what the flash of light was, already suspecting what it was. Instead she took off into the sky, flying high above the clock tower of her mansion and letting a beam of different illuminating colors crash into her mansion and damaging it. She landed on the very top of the clock tower then began looking around franticly, trying to find the person responsible for the attack. The perpetrator didn't waste time showing herself.

As Remilia expected, Marisa flew up to her level. What wasn't expected was the hideous face that was present on the young witch's face. Marisa's face could hardly be called a face. It was gone, save two holes where her eyes should be. The holes looked like they were made when someone took a stake and stabbed her with it. She had no nose and at first her mouth was nowhere to be seen.

Marisa's skin ripped open into a mouth that then curled into a blood-covered smile.

"It's the end of the line for you, da ze!" She yelled in a horrid voice.

Remilia winced at the disgusting sight that was the witch's face. The voice she spoke in made her sick to her stomach and dizzy. She kept the sick feeling down with her will and tried not to look directly at the face of what was supposed to be Marisa.

"What is going on? What is happening? Is this another trick?" She asked.

A realization came to her, but it came too late and she took a hit of amulets to the back. She let out a cry of pain as she was nearly knocked off the tower. Sneering, she turned around to see the Shrine Maiden, Reimu.

"How could I forget about you, my little Reimu?" Remilia said with a forced smile while ignoring the burning pain coming from her back.

Reimu's face looked no better than Marisa's. From her eye sockets grew a bushel of wiggling tentacles. Her mouth remained normal, ignoring the blood that poured from it, but one of her arms was gone, having been replaced with a blood-covered tentacle. It held the gohei she uses in battle.

Reimu spoke, but nothing but the sound of gurgling could be heard from her blood-filled mouth.

Remilia quickly covered her mouth when she felt her stomach try to escape up her throat. She had seen many repulsive things in her long life, but the sight of Reimu and Marisa was more than even she could handle.

She swallowed hard then took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "This is just another hallucination. It has to be." She said.

"Is it, Remilia?" Marisa spoke in her sickening voice. "Is this the hallucination? Or is the reality that your mind developed for you for the past five hundred years the real hallucination, hiding from you the true horrors that make up the very fabric of this universe? Of existence?"

Remilia scowled at the human Horror in front of her. She knew what it said to be nothing but a lie, a lie brought up by Cthulhu. But deep in the back of her subconscious, she wondered.

"Cthulhu… I know that it is you behind the face of that girl. Cease these games and fight me fairly." She demanded.

The thing wearing the flesh of Marisa said nothing and only grinned, the most horrible grin Remilia had ever seen on a human. From the blackness of its eyes, orbs of alien light appeared and with a flash of light following soon after.

Remilia was disoriented by the flash of light, but she shook it off quickly. She sighed in a little relief when she found the hallucination had ended, but the giant Cosmic Horror had traveled far from her in that short amount of time. She wasted no time and raced after it.

She flew towards the marching Horror as she pushed herself to speeds she never before achieved, a long tail of her aura trailing behind her. She pulled out a spell card and called out her next attack.

"Night Sign "Bombard Night"!"

The spell card burst into red flames, flames that consumed her almost instantly. She was turned into a comet of red, burning aura traveling across the dark world. Where the impact site was to be was in clear view: the back of Cthulhu's head.

Going at an incredible speed, she crashed into the back of the beast's head, unleashing a powerful explosion on impact. The force of impact was nowhere near enough to break through the hide of the monster, but what it did manage to do was send the giant beast stumbling forward. The thing caught itself before it fell forward into the ocean face first.

Remilia's resolve increased after finally being able to hurt the Horror in some way, as little as it was. She was sure it knew she was the one who almost sent it crashing into the black ocean. She did not hesitate to continue her assault when the thing swung itself around, its spider-like eyes glaring angrily at her.

She launched herself into the air then flew into the dead center of the monstrosity's forehead, forcing a grunt out of it and knocking it backwards. She bounced herself off its forehead and blasted herself back into the air before turning right back around and crashing into the top of its head, another grunt of pain coming from the alien horror. She kept her speed and power up, flying down the creature's face before making a near instant one hundred eighty degree turn and flying up into the tentacle-covered mouth of the creature, hitting it like a giant uppercut. The monster stumbled backwards into one of the great towers.

Remilia exhausted her spell, otherwise she would have continued pounding away at the beast, even if her body began to burn away from the great amount of energy she was producing.

She crossed her arms in a display of defiance as she watched Cthulhu stand back up. "Going to continue treating me like some pest? Then do not complain when you find yourself dead at the bottom of the ocean you awoken from!"

Remilia cursed herself for dropping her guard down even by a sliver of hair after she spoke her defiant words. The second she spoke them, Cthulhu swatted her out of the air with a backhand swing she barely even saw coming. Her body exploded across the back of his hand into a red cloud of blood and flesh. Her heart survived miraculously, allowing her to reform completely.

"Da… Damn it…" She said hoarsely. Regenerating from almost nothing fatigued her, forcing her to catch her breath.

Remilia got ready, thinking Cthulhu was now prepared to go on the offensive against her, but she was surprised and irritated to see that the monster was nowhere to be seen. Once again, she was not in Cthulhu's realm, but on the outskirts of Misty Lake with her mansion not far off in the distance.

She growled in frustration. "Another hallucination? How could I be letting myself fall into them so easily?"

The sudden touch of a vile energy on Remilia's heart made her forget about Cthulhu in an instant. She gripped at her chest as her heart ceased its beating, pain consuming her entire body. She wrenched in the awful pain as her heart struggled to restart before recognizing the vile energy. She forced herself to endure the pain and quickly turned around in time to catch the blade of a sword made from the vile energy between her hands. Her eyes widened in shock when saw the face of the attacker.

"M-Max?! Why are you-"

"Jesus f'n Christ, just die already!" Max yelled out in maddening anger.

He held the handle of the sword as he tried to push the blade down into Remilia's face in order to slice her in two. His eyes were completely filled with the insanity-inducing energy of the Outer God within him. His eyes burned blood red in anger and hate, just like the first time Remilia met him. The Yellow Sign Medallion that hung over his bare chest glowed violently an eerie yellow.

It quickly came to Remilia that she was experiencing their first encounter all over again. The feeling brought upon her by his evil power was impossible to forget no matter how hard she tried. She did not need a hallucination in order to remember. It was the same for anyone else who had come across him and his power.

"Damn it all! Stop toying with me, Cthulhu!" Remilia shouted over the roaring winds produced by the clashing powers of Max's and hers.

"Worry about whose in front of you, you little gargoyle!" Max yelled.

Remilia sneered at the insult. "You shut up!" She demanded.

With a strong shove, she pushed Max and his sword back away from her, giving her the room and the opening to deliver a kick into his groin. Her kick landed perfectly, forcing Max's mouth wide open from the sudden blow to his balls. He stumbled backwards, his hands between his legs and moaning loudly in pain.

Max looked up at the vampire, his eyes tearing up and burning with rage. "Fucking bitch! Don't wanna play fair, huh?!" He yelled then rushed towards Remilia with his sword in his hand.

Remilia easily caught the blade with her hands when he swung it vertically downwards at her, but she wasn't expecting him to retaliate by kicking her in the crotch. The tip of his shoe struck her where it counts and with enough force to send her into the air then back to the ground on her stomach. She laid there on the ground, her hands between her legs and tears making their way to her eyes.

"How's your cunt feeling now, eh?" Max asked sourly.

Remilia glared angrily at him as she pushed herself back up to her feet, pain pounding away at her crotch.

"You… You are not real. Thanks to me you do not have those powers anymore. The King in Yellow is forever trapped in another dimension and can no longer hurt us. You made sure of that. Now I will make sure Cthulhu cannot hurt anyone anymore as well." She said. "Somehow…" She sighed, trying to look confident in her statement but being unable to.

The rage in Max's expression slowly faded as dark and sinister grin took its place.

"Am I?" He said in a dark voice.

Remilia watched Max curiously as he placed his hand up to his face. He grabbed his face and started to pull it. To horrifying shock, he tore the skin from his face. Remilia forced herself not to look away from the horrible self-mutilation he had done. She was then surprised and further horrified to see what was underneath the skin was not bloody bone, but something else.

Max tore his face off to reveal a silver pallid mask covered in blood underneath. The eye sockets were filled with a never ending black void that threatened to suck Remilia in.

Remilia took a couple steps back from him when she felt a presence even more terrible than Cthulhu, a presence she never wanted to feel ever again.

"You took from me, Remilia… Soon… I will take from you… everything…" Max's voice, tainted with the voice of a horrible spirit, echoed from underneath the mask.

Blood ran from Remilia's ears, the echoes of the voice stinging her mind. Terrified as she was, she stood defiant with gritted teeth even in the face of a force of madness that threatened to flay her of her sanity.

"You can't. None of you can. I won't let you. I won't!" Remilia said, her fists shaking at her sides.

The being behind the pallid mask only laughed a cruel and inhuman laugh, infuriating Remilia. She held her hand up to form a red spear to assault the being with, but she was suddenly consumed by a flash of white light.

Remilia rubbed her eyes franticly in order to get the blindness out. Once her vision came back to her, she was back in R'lyeh. Again Cthulhu had left her be, angering her further than she already was.

"Enough of this! I let you toy with me for the last time!" Remilia shouted her rage then took off towards Cthulhu.

Remilia quickly caught up to the winged abomination, flying past him with a spell card burning in her hand.

"Midnight Sign "Bad Lady Scramble"!" She declared.

Her aura began to violently spin around her as she continued flying. She flew towards one of the black towers and landed on the side of it. She latched onto it then launched herself off of it and towards the alien. She formed a grand spear in her hand, prepared to combine the force of her spell card with the swing of her spear in hopes of actually cutting the beast and causing some real damage.

Remilia rocketed through the air and readied her spear to slice the chest of the giant being. Just before she would collide with the Horror, she swung her spear, putting her momentum into the swing of the spear. She came close in slicing the monster's form, but the impossible happened. The being pushed itself out of the way of her swing with a speed that shouldn't be possible for its size, at least that's how Remilia felt.

She skidded to a halt, terror covering her face. "How?! That's not possible!" She screamed angrily out of utter frustration towards the unfairness she was faced with.

Cthulhu's speed was absolutely terrifying. He was far faster than even Remilia could fly. He moved through the cold ocean water's like one moves through air, seemingly unhindered by the liquid in the least.

Ocean waves were thrown about when the beast pushed itself to the left then to the right in a near instant, tearing Remilia's vision apart, along with a string of her sanity. She cried out from the pain in her eyes, but used her sense of hearing to tell where the monster's assault was coming from and in what form in order to attempt to avoid it. Her attempt failed and was swatted out of the air and into a faraway tower, with Cthulhu easily chasing after her.

Remilia hastily recovered, right in time to fly away and avoid a giant jab from Cthulhu. Its fist punched into the side of the tower, leaving a giant hole within it. The hole grew as the stone crumbled away until the impossible weight of the tower buckled in on itself, sending it into the raging ocean.

Remilia barely managed to dodge a swing of the Horror's right claw and that of the left. She soon became nothing more than a fly fighting for its life while being swatted at by a much larger creature.

She was managing to avoid being struck directly, but the powerful winds produced by each swing of the monster's claws hit her with powerful blows of their own. She desperately flew through the unforgiving winds as she struggled to gather up her vampiric energy.

Remilia flew behind the beast then held her arms out to the sides. In each hand a large spear started to form from her aura. The second they were completed, she threw them both at the same time with all of her might. The spears flew through the air and exploded against the back of the giant Horror. Roaring furiously, she formed several more spears around her and threw them vigorously. Each spear carried with it some of her resolve and with each that broke harmlessly against the monster, the resolve broke with it.

Tears appeared in her eyes as her resolve dropped to dangerous levels. She reached her hand into the air and poured as much power she could into it. A spear started to form, but the power being put into it did not stop when its shape was complete. The blade of the weapon started to grow further.

"Bigger! Bigger! Bigger!" Remilia yelled as she pumped her power into her growing weapon.

More and more it grew and soon Remilia herself was nothing but a speck in the face of the blade. Yet, it still remained small in comparison to the Horror that had turned back around to face her.

Remilia didn't get as much power into her spear as she wanted when the Horror continued on with the deadly swings of its claws so she was forced to make do with what she had.

She flew towards Cthulhu with her giant spear in hand, dodging and weaving through the devastating slashes it tried to land on her. After too many close calls, she pointed her spear at the left shoulder of the being then rammed it into it. Surprisingly, even to her, the spear pierced the monster's alien flesh. Now that she had her spear where she wanted it, she began flying as fast as she could around the beings shoulder, the blade tearing through its green flesh. She completed the flight around the creature's arm with a burst of power shot into the blade of her spear. A flash of red light was produced and the being's entire arm was sliced off. It fell to the black ocean and disappeared into its depths.

With the loss of one its arms, Cthulhu let out horrid roar of rage that shook the entire city, or quite possible, the entire Earth.

Remilia's assault didn't stop there. With the Horror too busy angrily yelling, she flew to the right arm with the intent on doing to it what she did to the left. Once she got to the right shoulder, in went her spear. She circled around the arm and with a second red flash, it too was sent into the cold oceans below.

She flew up and away from the now armless monster that thrashed around in rage, beating its wings and sending out winds that distorted the space all around them. Remilia was panting heavily, fatigued from the fight that was seemingly impossible that only grew more impossible when it showed the terror-inducing speed it could move at. Seeing it armless helped repair her damaged resolve. The sight of progress was what she desperately needed at that moment.

Remilia held a slightly relieved expression, but it vanished as she clenched her teeth and more tears poured from her eyes. The repairs to her resolve were undone in an instant as she watched not one but two arms instantly form from the left shoulder. She had to look away in despair when another pair of arms formed from the right shoulder soon after. The being let out a roar of triumph with its four fists clenched in the air. Remilia could only float there in the air, hopelessly stunned at the sight.

"That's not fair…" She said in a weak voice. "That's not fair!" She yelled.

Cthulhu answered her with the flap of its wings. The resulting air burst struck her and sent her flying towards one of the black towers.

Remilia braced herself for the impact, but instead of hitting hard stone like she was expecting, she hit something soft like that of a bed. Puzzled, she opened her eyes to quickly find herself in exactly such a place. She was now in her bedchambers lying in her bed. More shockingly was the fact she was without clothing. The shock and confusion only grew when she noticed she was being held down by the wrists by someone. She was pinned down. And then the final shock, above her naked form was that of Max with a flushed face and bated breath and his brown eyes looking down at her.

"E-Eh?! W-What?! What do you think you are doing?!" She asked in a panicky voice.

Max looked at her like she just said something stupid. Confused as well, he looked to the side then back to Remilia.

"Did you… hit your head on the mattress too hard or something? What the hell ya think we're doing?" He asked curtly.

Remilia looked clearly puzzled. "Eh? I don't-"

She fell silent when her eyes noticed Max's bare chest. Hers eyes didn't stop there. Slowly they went from his chest, down to his well-toned abs and down to his crotch. Her face became deep red when she finally realized that he too was just as naked as she was.

"Oh my…" She said, rather impressed with what she was seeing.

Max's face reddened more than it already was. "What the- You just saw the frik'n thing five minutes ago." He said, embarrassed from having his erect member stared at.

Remilia stared at Max's exposed self for a few more moments before her senses came flying back to her.

"W-W-Wait a minute. Why are we in this kind of position? What is going on exactly?" She asked as she fell into a flustered panic.

Max looked at her like she was some kind of idiot. His confused expression disappeared when he came to a conclusion, a grin coming into view.

"Ah, I get it… This game again. You have the most weirdest fetishists ever, y'know that?" He said.

Remilia gawked for a second. "Wait what?! No! I don't know what you are saying. P-Please just get off of me. And don't look." She spoke fast.

Max's grin grew bigger. "Yup. I figured you'd say that. Why ya gotta tease me like this, eh?"

"I-I am doing no such thing, Max. This is all just… just a misunderstanding. Yes that is it. Just a misunderstanding…" Remilia fell silent when she remembered something before speaking again. "Wait… This is just another one of that bastard's tricks. A hallucination to fool me." She gave Max a threatening glare. "You are not Max. Now unhand me." She demanded.

Max's face grew dark as he chuckled wickedly. "So what if it is? Why stop a nice little wet dream, eh?"

Remilia scowled at the man. "I will not tell you again! Get off of me!" She yelled then went to shove Max off of her, but wasn't able to break free from his grip. He kept her tightly pinned down to the bed. "Wh-What?" She said, panicking again as she struggled beneath Max.

Max's brown eyes burst into burning red ones, vile energy pouring out of them and onto Remilia's boobs. He laughed at her futile attempts to break free from him.

"Looks like somebody forgot who the stronger one of the outfit is." He said cruely as his vile power enveloped them both. His horrid power was warping the reality around them. The walls and ceiling began to bleed blood.

Remilia could feel the dark energy drain her further of strength. She thrashed around violently, doing everything she could to get herself free, but it was useless. She glared angrily into the maddening eyes of the thing staring down at her.

"You are not real! None of this is real!" She screamed then looked around her. "Cthulhu! Enough of these games! Fight me fairly, you coward!" Her eyes shot wide open in shock when Max forced her legs open with his knees. "Wha-What do you think you are doing? Stop it!" She shouted.

"Giving you the time of your life… before it finally comes to an end…" Max said ambiguously as he pressed his dick up against Remilia's pussy.

Remilia quivered from the touch of his manhood on her womanhood. "No! No, don't! I said don't!" She shouted for him to stop, but he only laughed cruelly as he started to push himself into her.

Max's slow, forceful entry was painful for Remilia. It felt more like a white hot dagger being stabbed into her vagina more than anything. She could feel her insides being scorched away the deeper he went. Cries of pain flowed out her mouth even after he got himself fully into her.

Max let out a sigh of pleasure. "Oo~… There we go." He said with a malicious grin.

Tears ran down Remilia's tired face. "P-Pull it out. Please pull it out…" She pleaded as she panted, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears.

Max pulled his hips back then viciously threw himself into her crotch, causing her to scream out in pain. He did it again, another scream following. A small stream of blood ran out from her vagina with each forceful thrust of his cock into her. Each pull of his cock felt like he was tearing out flesh with it and with each shove of it felt like he was injecting molten metal into her.

"Ahk! Erah! Ah! S-Stop it! Stop it, I say! Nn! Ah!" Remilia yelled as the dark man pounded into her again and again.

"I'll stop when I'm finished, m'kay? I'd say when you're finished, but you were done the moment you decided to stick your cute little nose into things you should of stayed the hell out of." Max said in a voice that grew increasingly dark and warped as he spoke. "You should have left me the fuck alone to rip this world apart. You could have died relatively peacefully but no~, you had to be a stupid vampire and convince me that things could change for the better. But not a god damn thing has changed have they, Remilia?!" He yelled as he put anger behind his violent thrusts.

The pain brought on by the constant thrusting of Max's member into Remilia was killing her, but she repeated countless times in her head that it was nothing but a nightmare brought on by the Dead Dreamer. She tried to bear it and not let herself be defeated in her mental fight with the Ancient One.

"Nn ah! Errah! Y-You mean to let a dumb boy with a grudge do what some Outer God wanted? Go to hell, you fiend. I won't be brought down by petty mind tricks like this. You… You won't break me." She said defiantly.

Max stopped his thrusting. "I always thought you were delusional… and yet… Why the fuck did I let you fool me into thinking there was hope? Man, I'm an idiot…" He said with a depressing frown.

A grin appeared on Remilia's pain-filled face. "That you are, Max." She said softly then took the opportunity to break out of Max's grip, freeing her hands. "Never change, you big dummy!" She yelled.

With both hands, she jammed her extended nails into a surprised Max, piercing right through his chest and into his heart. She smiled triumphantly at the shocked man as blood dripped down her nails.

"You really are a stubborn one. I will need to remind you why they fear the night, Horror or otherwise." She said with a cocky grin.

Max had an expression of shock, but it only lasted for a few moments before his dark grin returned.

"Sorry, little vampire, but I have other plans for little Maxi." Max said, but in a voice of a young girl.

Terror took over Remilia's face when she recognized the dreaded voice. She watched as Max turned into a young girl the same size as her with long, flowing hair of ever changing dark colors with a single braid on each side. The girl's dark eyes stared intently into hers.

"Ya… You…" Remilia gasped as she found herself face to face with The Crawling Chaos herself.

Nyarlathotep smiled cheerfully. "Hola!" She greeted excitedly.

Remilia became irritated with the cheerful attitude the Outer God was displaying. Her nails were still deep in the evil god's chest so she tried to pull them out to attack the evil being, but she couldn't get her nails out of her.

"So, what ya do'n, hmm?" Nyarlathotep asked curiously as she placed her elbows on each of Remilia's breasts and rested her chin on the palms of her hands. "Still fucking around with things beyond your understanding, are ya? Well ain't you the retarded one!" She said then broke out into a maniacal laugh.

"You blasted, monster!" Remilia cursed as she continued to try to pull her nails out of the dark deity with all of her strength, but with no progress being made.

Nyarlathotep frowned boredly. "Y'know… I never would have thought something like you would come out of nowhere and fuck up my plans to the degree that you did. It really irks me." She said with a forced chuckle. "I don't get it… The Earth will be undone soon enough so why fight it? So why fight it, huh? So why fight it? Huh? Huh? Do you just have nothing better to do? Are you that bored that you need to bother me and get in my way and drive my little Harbinger off course? Huh? Huh? Huh? What the fuck is your problem, huh?" She asked while purposely sounding annoying.

"Why should I waste my breath telling you, Outer God? If you have to ask then you would never understand regardless." Remilia said with a scowl.

Remilia let out a cry of pain when Nyarlathotep suddenly jammed her nails into the side of her head and forced her face very close to hers, almost touching.

"I… am trying to be nice here…" Nyarlathotep said in a calm, yet shaky, voice. Her hands shook from the alien rage building up in her. "I don't… I don't like being fucked with, y'know what I mean? I mean what you did was cute and all, but seriously…" Remilia let out a quiet, drawn out cry as she painfully squeezed her head while glaring deeply into her eyes. "Fuck off."

Remilia looked at Nyarlathotep defiantly then pushed her nails deeper into her chest. "No, Nyarlathotep… You fuck off." She said, with the evil god tilting her head in curious confusion at her.

With all the strength she could summon in that moment, Remilia pulled her claws apart, tearing the Outer God in two and unleashing a flash of blinding light.

Remilia shook her head, the vision of the dark world of R'lyeh before her once again along with the Dead Dreamer, Cthulhu.

She glared at the eldritch abomination as she struggled to not let her rage overcome her. "That's enough! It is time I ended this once and for all!" She screamed her declaration.

Remilia pumped her body with her power, forcing her wings to grow larger and twisted looking. Her nails turned into claws and her teeth monstrous. Her skin cracked in places around her body, her red energy oozing out from the cracks. She groaned as she painfully pushed her vampiric body passed its limits. Once she was finished, she blasted off towards Cthulhu who waited for the vampire.

She readied her claws in preparation to slice all six of the Horror's eyes, but her attention was pulled to the sea below her. She could sense movement underneath the black waves. Whatever it was, it forced her to stop where she was and wait for it to show itself.

She didn't wait long before a giant green tentacle burst out from the cold ocean directly underneath her. She jumped to the side to avoid being struck as the tentacle flew straight up into the air. A spear formed in her hand that was then used to slice the tentacle, sending the severed part back into the ocean.

Three more tentacles burst out of the black ocean, twisting and wrapping around one another as they flew towards the vampire.

Remilia threw her spear, sending it right down the center of one of the tentacles. The tentacle blew apart into green muck as the spear traveled all the way down it and into the ocean. She hastily formed a ball of dense energy in between her hands then tossed it at the two incoming tentacles, but they both invaded the mass of energy with their shocking speed. They dodged in opposite directions around the ball then came at Remilia from both sides. She stood her ground, letting the two tentacles rapidly circle around her as they closed in on her, preventing her from escaping their shrinking cage.

With just seconds away from being crushed to death, Remilia pulled out a spell card and called out its name. "Red Magic!"

With her powers already amplified with her vampiric energy, her spell card received the same increase in power and force. Waves of innumerable red danmaku was unleashed with the unlocking of her spell card. The waves of danmaku flew out with tremendous force, smashing into the tentacles and ceasing their closer around her.

The tentacles struggled to keep closed around her, but the cage they created was filling rapidly with danmaku. Looking from the outside, one could see the circular cage of tentacles slowly expanding. After only a few moments, the tentacles lost their integrity and were blown apart with the violent release of energy from the confined danmaku. With a great red flash, the tentacles were vaporized. All that was left after the red light faded was Remilia hovering in the air, consumed in her raging aura.

Remilia kept her burning scarlet eyes on the ocean below her, sensing far more tentacles moving about beneath the surface than what had so far appeared, every single one itching to destroy her at any given opportunity. But knowing there to be countless tentacles underneath the watery abyss did not prepare her for what came next.

Everywhere around her to as far as her eyes could see were hordes of terribly large tentacles bursting their way out of the ocean surface in never ending numbers. She watched in horror as the very ocean itself turned into one enormous mass of green tentacles within only a few seconds.

Wide-eyed and spooked beyond imagination, Remilia could only stare at the impossible sight. Her raging power and anger could not keep the chill from the awful sight from reaching into her heart and grabbing it. The chill sapped her of her rapidly dwindling resolve and caused another crack in her sanity.

Remilia hunched over when she abruptly vomited. Coughing resulted afterwards and then another forceful release of the contents of her stomach out of her mouth. She wiped her mouth of bile as she tried to get a hold of herself.

"Shit… There just has to be a way to bring that monster down, but…" She looked over her shoulders to get a glimpse of Cthulhu who stood still in the sea of moving tentacles, silently judging her with its alien mind. "What the hell is it? What do I need to do to defeat this thing? Please tell me… that it can be defeated… someone tell me…" She said.

Remilia hoped that someone was listening and could answer her, but there was only one thing that was there to hear her and that was Cthulhu.

She felt her power leaving her as her hope decayed, forcing her to shake her head to regain focus. As little as it was, she gripped the hope she had with all her might, determined to take it all the way to her death.

Her focus was brought to one of the black spires as a mass of tentacles slithered up it. She watched cautiously as they wrapped tightly around the tower. She could hear stone beginning to break and crumble as the tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter. It came to her then that they were trying to bring down the huge tower and that they did. The tower started to tilt in her direction, forcing her to move out of the way. She did not understand what exactly the tentacles were trying to accomplish as the giant tower was easily avoidable as it slowly fell. It wasn't until the tower came near to splashing into the sea of tentacles that their plan came into sight.

Another mass of tentacles flew out from the tentacle ocean and caught the tower before it could fall in. How even those tentacles could possibly hold up the unimaginable weight of the tower was way beyond Remilia's vampiric mind.

Remilia prepared herself as the mass of tentacles broke up the entire tower into smaller chunks of black stone; smaller as in stone that were about the size of her mansion on average. As the tower was taken apart, the giant chunks of stone were hurled at her one after another.

She was forced to increase the output of her power in order to be fast enough to dodge the stones flung at her. The speed that they were thrown left her no time to channel her power into an attack that could vaporize the giant boulders, leaving her to being able to do nothing but evade.

In the middle of evading the thrown boulders, an idea popped in her head. She sat her destination to Cthulhu and quickly made her way towards him. Even with her fear trying to slow her advance, she was able to make it to the towering monster. She stopped in front of the creature's face then quickly flew straight up when she sensed another volley of black boulders heading her way.

She flew into the air, watching as four giant stones thrown at her flew towards the thing's face. She had hoped to trick the thing into hitting itself but she ended up painfully watching the beast effortlessly catch each boulder in each of its four alien hands before crushing them into dust.

With her teeth tightly clenched together and her body trembling, Remilia desperately tried to come up with a plan to defeat the Dead Dreamer through the agonizing thumping in her head and her subconscious calls for help that were aimed at everyone she ever knew. Coming up with a plan was incredibly difficult when everything she had tried thus far had been heart-wrenchingly fruitless.

Her plan making came to an end when she saw a most horrible sight; Cthulhu rising up towards her with the sea of tentacles rising with him. The mind-crippling thought that all of R'lyeh was a part of Cthulhu in some way ran through her mind.

"I am… going to die…" She said weakly in her fright.

Remilia's fear overtook her will power and forced her to flee from the incoming eldritch monstrosity. She flew across the dark sky as fast as she possibly could with an even darker force approaching close behind her. Cthulhu's terrible shadow grew around her as it drew near.

Several tentacles shot up from the sea and tried to stop her, forcing her to nearly fly face first into one of the gigantic towers when they swatted at her. She landed on the side of the tower then ran up the side of it, covering a large amount of distance before Cthulhu jumped up onto the tower and began climbing up it, causing the entire tower to shake from its unfathomable weight. She dared not look back at her pursuer and kept her eyes on the black clouds far ahead of her.

When a shadow fell over Remilia, she looked up to see a green hand about to crush her. She leaped to the side, avoiding the slap of Cthulhu's hand. Another shadow appeared over her and again she leaped to the side, avoiding another crushing hand.

The Cosmic Horror was so close behind her that she thought it would devour her at any moment. Her tears fell from her eyes and splashed against the nightmarish face of the Horror, feeding him the fear and despair that each droplet contained.

Far passed desperate now, Remilia formed a large ball of red energy in both of her hands. She leaped, throwing both energy balls into the tower beneath her. She landed back on the tower to continue her dash up it as her attack blew off a chunk of the tower behind her. The giant chunk fell and made a direct hit on Cthulhu's face, forcing a grunt of pain from the beast. She broke off another chunk of stone with a second blast of energy, but the Horror, using its horrifying speed, dodged to the side, jumped up over Remilia and landed in front of her.

Remilia continued running even when she found those six glowing eyes in front of her. She screamed as she formed a spear and pointed the blade at one of the eyes.

When she became just inches away from impaling her weapon into the eye, an eldritch force froze her in place and silenced her screams. She was petrified from the unholy stare of the Horror's eyes. She stared back in absolute horror, her cracking sanity cracking further when a vision was suddenly seen in the monster's haunting eyes. She tried desperately to look away, but her eyes were locked on its. She watched miserably as she was shown the scene of her father's death. The vision showed in such gruesome detail that she could feel the pain and suffering her father felt as he was ripped to pieces by the abomination. Her screaming returned as the scene continued to play before her very eyes.

Remilia lost her ability to stand on the side of the great tower and started to fall down it, screaming all the way. She covered her tear-filled eyes as she shook her head wildly, unable to except defeat even when her horrible end was so clear to her now. Even with despair ravaging her, she could not let herself stop fighting as long as her heart still beated within her chest.

"This cannot be happening! I cannot lose! Too much is riding on my shoulders!" She screamed.

Remilia reached into her pocket and pulled out a blood colored spell card. She held it up to her face, feeling the spell locked within it. She was sure it would be her last spell declaration, but unsure what exactly it would accomplish against an entity that had proven to be undefeatable. Another thing she was sure of, or at least hoped, was that this spell card would kill at least one of them.

She pressed her lips against the card, causing it to glow. She then looked ahead to see Cthulhu release the tower and let itself fall towards her. It was preparing to finish her once and for all, just as it did to her father.

"I was a fool… to think I could ever destroy you. I will admit that."

Remilia's spell card burned up in blood red flames, unleashing a torrent of blood that forced its way into her mouth and down her throat. Her aura grew to an incredible size as the rush of blood increased her power tenfold, but at the risk of damaging her mind permanently underneath the weight of the newfound power. After all of the blood contained within the spell card was fed to her, she gasped for air and wiped her mouth of blood.

"But, damn it all, I will not let you have the satisfaction in killing me."

The entirety of her great aura was then absorbed into her right hand.

As Cthulhu fell towards her, the thing's tentacle maw opened up, revealing the mind-shattering sight of its mouth. A dreaded roar erupted from the Cosmic Horror's mouth as it prepared to devour Remilia whole.

Remilia fought to put on a determined expression as she held her aura-covered hand back as she prepared to strike. "Prepare yourself, Mighty Cthulhu! This is all of the pain and suffering you caused my family and all of my hatred!" She screamed.

The aura in her hand transformed into a solid shape of four gigantic claws that radiated with immense power. The claws themselves were as big as the evil god's own hands and they basked the alien world with a haunting red light.

"Scarlet Fangs "The Eater of Gods"!" She bellowed her attack, her declaration echoing throughout all of R'lyeh.

With a roar from the soul, she swung her immense claw with everything she had, leaving a streak of glowing blood red in the claw's wake. She fed all of her power and all of her emotions into her attack. The last thing it had not taken was her very soul, but it was not too far off from ripping it out of her as she directed her claws towards the incoming eldritch abomination.

Cthulhu's horrific maw opened wider as it went to devour her once and for all, but it was met with the four claws of her devastating attack. The two center claws went straight into its maw, ripping into it and up the center of its face. All six of its eyes were shredded by the red claws, causing them to explode into hideous showers of blood. The dark deity unleashed the most abominable howl yet from the agonizing blow it received.

The force of Remilia's giant claws was great enough to throw Cthulhu into the side of the black tower. His gigantic form crashed into it, setting up the tower's inevitable fall.

Remilia's claws shattered like glass after their use. The attack left her completely drained of energy, leaving her to helplessly fall from the sky and towards the ferocious sea of tentacles head first.

Her expression was dead. The light in her eyes was absent and her heart could barely pump her blood through her veins. Her consciousness was still there, but it was fading away fast.

Her own attack had blasted her mind, leaving her unaware of where she even was and what was happening around her. All she did was stare blankly at the great tower as it toppled over. She watched unaware as it fell above her. Seconds before it fell over top of her, darkness consumed her vision.

The darkness in Remilia's vision subsided as her consciousness slowly returned along with what had just happened. Her head was pounding terribly and it felt like someone was strangling her heart. She shook her head to clear her mind and waited for the blurriness in her vision to fade away and once it did, she wished it never did.

She was no longer in R'lyeh, but the sight that was before her was far worse than even the sight of that evil city.

Remilia found herself in the middle of an annihilated human city in the Outside World. Fire had consumed everything: the sky, the buildings, even the people. All around her were thousands upon thousands of humans screaming manically at the sky their newfound devotion for the Dead Dreamer, Cthulhu, all the while as their flesh melted from their bones.

Remilia shook her head, refusing to believe the dreaded truth of her failure. "No… This can't be… No, please! No~! No~! No! No! No! No! No! No~!" She screamed over and over again as despair claimed her soul.

The Earth burned while Remilia continued to scream and the humans continued to chant the mighty Cthulhu's name and then the entire world around them came to a horrible end.


	14. Chapter 14 A Glimpse of the End

Remilia awoke in a patch of grass, moaning from the aggravating pounding in both her head and in her chest. Though the pain was immense, she sat herself up, her muscles screaming out their objections every inch of the way. Her vision was blurred, but it soon passed. The first thing that came to her mind was that of Cthulhu and she quickly started looking around for the beast only to find that she was no longer in the nightmare city.

"_Another hallucination?" _She immediately thought.

She pushed herself up onto her weakened legs, studying the land around her. She was quick in figuring out it was Gensokyo she was in and all seemed normal, all except for some sickening feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. She thought she could throw up at any second and was prepared to do so, but nothing came up.

With her stomach twisting itself into a knot, she walked around as she cautiously searched for any signs of someone or something. She wasn't expecting to find anyone who could provide any useful information, already convinced she was stuck in some kind of illusion, but she really had nothing else she could do.

The land around her seemed pretty normal. It was cold like it would be for the winter season and the wind was blowing around fallen leaves left by the now bare trees. It was a full moon out, Remilia's favorite kind of night, and the twinkling stars were a beautiful sight.

Remilia felt no dangerous presence, but damn her if she would let herself feel relaxed for even a second when she was sure something evil was out there. Now if only she could find that supposed evil, she could destroy it and break out of the illusion. In the meantime, she would replay the events that happened when she declared her last spell card in her head. It was all still a little fuzzy, but she did remember being surrounded by mindless humans in a burning city with a sky of fire after unleashing her last attack. She figured that was just a hallucination. Hoped that was just a hallucination.

After only a few minutes of walking, Remilia came to a lake; Misty Lake. She was surprised to see that no mist was present, allowing a rare look across the lake all the way to her mansion. The only thing that bothered her was that her mansion could not be seen. If anything, the clock tower should be visible somewhere in the horizon even from where she was at. With a single nervous droplet of sweat running down her face, she put her tired body into flight.

Being fatigued from her ongoing battle with Cthulhu forced her to fly slowly and take her time, time she thought she didn't have.

After a flight made grueling by her impatience, Remilia landed on the other side of the lake where her mansion sat. Or at least where it should have sat.

She looked around confused at what once was her mansion. All that remained now was the foundation it had sat upon with mounds of broken red brick scattered about. She knew it was all just an illusion, but she couldn't help but shed a tear at what was once her beautiful home she has lived in for such a long time.

She made her way into the ruins of her mansion, eyes scanning everything without pause and ears listening to every sound. She treaded lightly, prepared for some horrific thing to pop out from one of the mounds of brick, but no such thing came.

What she did come to see was a motionless hand sticking out of one of the mounds. She rushed to it and grabbed and pulled it out, along with the body it was attached to.

"Meiling?!" Remilia gasped in surprise upon seeing her Gate Guard.

She was disturbed to see that Meiling's body had been gruesomely mangled. Severe injuries from bruises to cuts and gashes were present all over her body. Her dead eyes showed that her life was long gone now. Whatever had happened to her mansion, she was sure that Meiling had gone down fighting and did not live to see the mansion destroyed, as she would expect from the Gate Guard she personally chose for the job.

With a shaking hand and a pained heart, Remilia pulled down the Gate Keeper's eyelids over her lightless eyes.

The sudden trembling of the ground beneath Remilia's feet nearly sent her falling down on top of the dead youkai, but she remained steady. She bid her Gate Guard farewell and continued exploring the ruins.

The trembling persisted as Remilia searched. She came upon another body that lay on its back in a pool of blood. This time it was that of Reimu. Ignoring the blood, Remilia fell to her knees beside the corpse of the Shrine Maiden.

"Oh, Reimu…" She said sorrowfully.

It both angered and pained her greatly to see one of the so very few humans she had ever found interesting, an incredibly powerful one at that, as nothing but a bloodied corpse.

"This is not real…" Remilia told herself as she clenched the priestess's hand once then forced herself to leave the Maiden's side.

She ended up finding a pocket watch on the ground not too far from Reimu's body that she nearly stepped on. She picked it up and studied it. It was crushed and covered in blood, but even in its poor shape, it was obvious that it belonged to her Chief Maid, Sakuya. She clenched the pocket watch as her anger flared up then stuffed it in her dress pocket.

"Damn monster… Trying to demoralize me by showing me these kinds of illusions, are you? Well it is not going to work. I am still ready to fight you. As long as my heart still beats… I will fight you." Remilia said in a quiet and stern voice.

She felt it then, a dark presence that drove her to her knees, clenching her chest from a burning pain in her heart that flowed throughout her veins. She growled angrily as she forced herself back to her feet despite the scorching pain.

Remilia struggled to walk, but she pushed herself to follow where the dark presence was coming from. Not too far it was, she felt. It already felt like the presence was on top of her, strangling her with nothing but its sheer existence.

She forced herself into a fast walking speed, her legs screaming at her the more she pushed them. The more pain she felt in her heart the closer she knew she was getting to whatever evil entity that was present within the ruins.

After only a minute of walking, Remilia was shocked to find not one, but two terrible beings.

One of the beings, a crowned figure with a pallid mask and covered in tattered yellow rags, stood perfectly still. He stared silently up into the night sky as the cold wind blew through his tattered cloth.

"Hast-… The King in Yellow?" Remilia said in bemused fear. The dark god was unresponsive to her appearance and continued staring up into the sky.

Where the sight of the Unspeakable One before Remilia frightened her, the being sitting on top of his shoulders filled her with anger. On his shoulders was a young girl with long black hair wearing a black one-piece. She too was staring up into the sky, though looking rather bored. Even in an innocent looking form, it was impossible for Remilia to mistaken the girl for none other than Nyarlathotep herself.

Nyarlathotep let out a disgruntled sigh. "This is such a drag… I was so close too. Now I'm gonna be punished…" She moaned boredly.

"Crawling Chaos!" Remilia shouted for the alien entity.

"Hm?" Nyarlathotep turned her head and when she saw who had called for her a dark grin formed on her face. "Well look at what we have here. It's the annoying little vampire. Still alive, huh?"

"Come down here and fight me. This may be just a dream, but I am going to take some joy in breaking you in two." Remilia said.

The Crawling Chaos let out a dark laugh. "A dream, huh? That's the funny thing about dreams. You see… you can never tell if that is just what they are, a dream, or something else entirely." She said ambiguously.

Remilia scowled. "I do not care about that now fight me!" She demanded.

Nyarlathotep shook her head with a sad smile. "It's too late for that, foolish vampire. It looks like this time… we both lose."

Confusion appeared on Remilia's face. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Nyarlathotep's smile became dark and horrible as she stared into Remilia's scarlet eyes, passed the red glow and into the dark reaches of her mind. "Why don't you just look up and find out?"

Remilia looked up, but it wasn't Nyarlathotep's suggestion that made her look up. It was the sudden feeling of unrelenting horror that had exploded in her heart that did it. She had thought that the feeling she felt when she first saw Cthulhu was the pinnacle of horror, but this feeling proved to be magnitudes more horrible than even the Dead Dreamer was and it wasn't even until she saw what it was in the sky that she knew the true form of absolute horror.

What she saw then was not meant for anyone sane of mind. What she saw then just simply could not be. Even her vampiric mind could not withstand the utter absolution that was destruction before her.

"What… is… that…?" Remilia spoke her final words.

The light trembling of the ground intensified into a full-blown earthquake as she stared up into the sky, watching in complete disbelief as the stars in the sky vanished one by one, watching as something consumed them all in an alien, ravenous hunger.

With the vanishing of the last star came the end of the moon. It crumbled to pieces before her very eyes as black entrails wrapped around it. It was destroyed by the same impossible force that had claimed the stars, by a force that was beyond any comprehension native to the Earth.

And at last the Earth itself was devoured. The sky bled blackness and eerie howls from other dimensions echoed from the unfathomable black blob in the sky. A soul-shattering song played along with the shrieking screams of countless eldritch abominations hidden behind the amorphous blob. This was no nightmare for no nightmare of a sane mind could ever conjure up such a maddening evil. It was almost as if the entire universe was coming apart.

The howling sounds of annihilation shrouded Remilia's ravaged thoughts, but what finally crushed her soul was the opening of a great abominable eye within the black chaos, an eye filled with a swirling, incomprehensible madness, looking down at her with its obliterating stare.

Remilia's mouth opened to scream out in mindless horror, only to have her scream and her mind ripped out of her as the entire world came crashing down all around her until finally only nothingness remained.

* * *

Remilia was jolted awake in a panicked sweat, sitting up in a bed with a gasp of fright. The second she sat up, the sudden slap of someone's palm on her forehead forced her back down onto a pillow.

"Ouch!" She cried out.

"Stay lying down, ya idiot." A man said.

Remilia sneered at the man next to her, only to look shocked when she recognized the man to be Max. He was lying next to her, sitting up with his back against the headboard of the bed.

Ignoring Max's order, she sat up while looking around the room she was in to find that it was her bedchambers. It was a refreshing sight for her, but she kept a cautious mindset. She was in one hallucination after another during her grueling confrontation with Cthulhu so she wouldn't be surprised if she was in yet another one.

If she was indeed still trapped in a hallucination, she wondered what horrible thing would come next. It was then such a thing spoke, driving her into a pool of anger and hate. God damn it, nothing drove her more mad than that voice.

"It is alright, Miss Scarlet. You are back to reality and safe in your bedroom now." Another man said.

Remilia twitched from hearing that voice. She had to force herself to turn her head to see where the voice came from. Then she saw him, standing next to her desk the man who had spoken, along with the grin she greatly detested, the grin she despised with every fabric of her soul.

"I must say that was quite a performance, Milady. You not only managed to set your father's soul free, you survived the encounter with the great Cthulhu and were able to disable him in the process. I knew you could do it. Bravo, Miss Scarlet. Bravo." Joseph said joyfully and with the clap of his hands.

If there ever was a time to kill Joseph then now would be the time to do it, Remilia thought. His kind attitude he played towards her was aggravating beyond reason. She even went to make a move against him, but it was then she realized the extent of her weak state. Her body ached all over and a migraine tormented her. She felt heavy, so heavy in fact that it was difficult for her to stay sat up in her bed. His death would have to wait just a little bit longer. She needed to get information from him anyways so it wasn't all too disappointing.

Joseph chuckled. "It is not every day an astronomer, a mere boy and a gorgeous vampire make it out of R'lyeh alive." He said.

"Shut the fuck up." Max sneered in disgust at Joseph.

"What… happened?" Remilia asked. Her memory was still shabby at best after using her last spell card. Every time she tried to remember her head would just hurt more.

"You brought a fucking tower on top of the prick." Max said, still looking a little astonished from witnessing the feat Remilia had accomplished.

"That tower nearly crushed you as well, but I was quick in getting to you before it could." Joseph said proudly.

"But that monster… It still lives, correct?" Remilia asked.

"Correct, my dear. But Cthulhu sleeps deep within the ocean once again thanks to you." A condescending chuckle escaped Joseph's lips. "Of course until some fool decides to awaken him again."

One quick twist of his neck would do wonders for her mental wellbeing, Remilia thought.

"What of my sister?" She asked.

"The young Miss sleeps peacefully in her bedroom." Joseph answered. "But we have yet to let your servants know of your return. I thought it best that we waited until you had awoken."

Remilia sighed in relief upon hearing that Flandre was safe and well. She then fell into silence as she started to contemplate all that had happened. She wasn't too far into her thoughts when Max placed his hand on top of her head and forced her to look at him. She glared at him, not at all happy about how freely he touched her.

"The hell you looking upset for? You knocked the bastard right the fuck out all by yourself. I couldn't do jackshit and that useless mother fucker over there was too busy laughing his dick off to be of any help. That's amazing so don't let that thing still being alive bother you at all. Just be happy you freed your dad and that you didn't destroy the world while doing so. Alright?" Max said.

Remilia was very angry with herself for not being able to destroy the alien deity that killed her father, but what Max had said made her rethink her failure. She admitted to herself that she just simply could not beat that monster. She just wasn't ready to at that moment in time and she may never will be. But she felt some pride build up in her because of what she was able to do that her father could not; she survived and she proudly accepted that.

Her attention fell onto Joseph who of course was still wearing his cocky grin. It was amazing to her how that grin managed to piss her off every time she saw it without fail. He grinned at her as if he already knew what she was about to say to him. He acted like he already knew the outcome of her fight with Cthulhu; that is she tried to convince herself that he was only acting. She would love more than anything to crush his faith in his foresight.

"Joseph." She said.

And Joseph chuckled before happily responding, "Yes, Miss Scarlet?"

Remilia moved her hand, the sharp nail on her pointer finger going straight into Max's cheek as she pointed at him.

"O~w!" Max exclaimed as he put his hand right over where his newly formed cut was on his cheek then glared at Remilia. "The hell was that for?"

"Explain this. Right now." Remilia demanded strongly.

Joseph smirked. "Oh, of course. I guess I should explain that." He said then approached Remilia's bed.

"Is it really necessary?" Max mumbled in aggravation.

"Of course it is. You should not even be here in my bed, Max. The grave in my garden is where you should be resting. In matter of fact…" Remilia tried to push Max out of her bed, but he fought back. "Get out of my bed!" She demanded.

"Piss off. I'm as tired as you are so deal with it." Max said defiantly.

Joseph let out a hardy laugh. "Just as I remembered you two. Getting along so well despite one being a vampire and the other a, ahem… human." He said.

"Get on with it." Remilia said while letting some of her anger leak out with her demand.

"Heh… You said he should be resting in that grave you so kindly gave him when the truth is is that he was never there to begin with." Joseph said.

Remilia did not like where his explanation was going. "What do you mean? Be more clear."

"I mean just what I said. Of course his body was in that coffin for a short time, until I found the time to collect it."

Remilia clenched her teeth as she tried to contain her boiling anger, but her anger came out when she shouted, "You defiled his grave?!"

"Well, I would not call it that myself, but yes, that is indeed what I did." Joseph said with a simple smile.

The list of things Joseph had done to piss Remilia off just kept on growing and growing. It was mindboggling to her. At this point she was actually genuinely curious about what else he could possible do to piss her right the hell off.

"It is as I told you before, Milady. When I heard of what you and young Max had done over a year ago… I was surprised and for that I wanted to reward you for it." Joseph said.

"Reward me? How so? You mean by showing up out of the blue when those two things appeared in my mansion? You mean when you refrained from telling me that Flandre had taken off towards that awful city or stealing the medallion from my father's study? Or was it when you pushed me down on my desk just to toy with me? Well? Which is it, Joseph?" Remilia said in intense scorn.

"Just what the fuck did she mean by you pushing her down, eh?" Max asked as his own hatred for Joseph came into view in his expression.

"What I meant by reward I mostly meant reward for the young man here." Joseph said.

"Oh, don't you fucking say it, robed mother fucker." Max said while menacingly pointing at Joseph. "I'm already about to make you eat this fucking necklace so don't you dare say it."

"What? Tell me now." Remilia demanded.

Joseph chuckled, but at any second he was about to break out into heinous laughter. "Since his soul was stuck in limbo in this world, I gave him his body back. I thought that a second chance at life would be a nice reward for pulling a fast one on not one but two Outer Gods." He said.

"You are still not being clear. If his soul never left this world then where was it?"

Joseph said nothing and merely pointed at the medallion that hung around Max's neck.

"Eh?"

Remilia turned her eyes to the medallion, a sliver of cold hitting her once the eerie symbol on the medallion was in her sight. Only then did she finally feel the presence of a human spirit within the medallion.

"Young Max never made it to the next life. He was always there, inside the drawer of your father's desk in that dark room, alone in the cold depths of the King in Yellow's medallion, right where you so uncaringly left him. He is forever bound to it and nothing you do will change that. Next time he dies he goes right back in where he will wait in the dark cold for the King in Yellow to inevitably reclaim what is his." Joseph said then fell into restrained laughter. "Oh, my dear little vampire… Did you honestly think it would be that easy to change this boy's fate? All you managed to do was give him hope only for it to be magnificently crushed by the undeniable reality. In the end it was the Unspeakable One who got the last laugh."

Remilia stared at the medallion then reached out to touch it, feeling its unnatural cold surface, a cold that pierced into her soul. How could she have not realized it before? She had held the medallion before and felt nothing from it; no vile energy, so essence of a soul, nothing. She could only blame the certainty that she had freed Max from the chains of that dreaded spirit. She blamed it for keeping her from realizing the truth. Her faith in her own power had blinded her.

She clenched her teeth in distress when she remembered the Youkai of Gaps, Yukari Yakumo. Yukari and her had fought over who would keep the medallion shortly after Max's death, with Yukari ending up being the one to hold on to it, but even after showing she would not give it up no matter what, she suddenly came by the Scarlet Mansion and gave it to her without any explanation whatsoever. Did she know that Max's soul was trapped inside? And if so then why did she give the medallion to her without saying anything about it? Just what the hell did he intend by doing that?

"If you had his body for the past year then why did you purposely wait until just recently to revive him?" Remilia asked.

"It takes time to revive a human body, Miss Scarlet. You know that as well as I do." Joseph said.

Remilia did not accept that answer. She was convinced that all that Joseph had done so far was for some hidden purpose that he was keeping from her, but what exactly that purpose could be was anyone's guess.

"So it is a good thing you did not have him cremated or I might have needed to give him a suit of armor for a body." Joseph said then burst out into an uncontrolled fit of laughter.

Fed up with Joseph's aggravating laugh, Max jumped out of the bed and approached him with his fists ready. "That's it. You're mine." He fumed.

Joseph ended his laughing then pushed passed Max, grabbed Remilia by the hand and kissed the top of it. "I am afraid I cannot stay any longer, Milady. I must leave you two to your foolish adventures and return to the safety of the Great Library." He released Remilia's hand then bowed to her. "Good luck with that little problem in your library, Miss Scarlet. I am sure Max here will be able to assist you in some way. Good luck and farewell." He said then gave Remilia another bow.

"You can leave, but your teeth stay here, asshole!" Max exclaimed as he swung a fist at Joseph, only for him to miss when Joseph vanished into thin air. He stumbled forward a bit then growled angrily in heated frustration. "God damn prick. I swear to god, I hope that Hunting Hound or whatever the fuck finds him and bites his dick off."

He let out a disgruntled sigh, unsure of what to do with himself now that he got Remilia out of R'lyeh. He still considered himself pretty much a dead man and dead men don't have plans for themselves. The only thing he really wanted to do was to kill Joseph for bringing him back to life and exposing him to the reality of his situation. He had tried once already soon after Joseph revived him in a fit of rage, but the robed man was a slippery bastard with his knowledge in alien magic.

Remilia watched Max quietly as he drifted off into his own thoughts. Max: the young man she had first met when he trespassed on her mansion. What a surprise it was for her when she found it to be a man that had intruded and not the usual suspect. The immense power he possessed was further shock, but his familiar handsome face was even more so. It was so nice to see that face outside of her dreams and memories. She knew it was stupid, but it was that face of his that drew her to him in the first place.

Max had first come to Gensokyo to hide from the Horrors his vile power attracted. He came with an anger and hate towards everything and everyone around him that was born from the war and cruelty he had experienced growing up. With his horrendous power gifted to him by the sleeping Outer God within him, he vented his anger and frustration on the inhabitants of the mystical land. It was only when Remilia herself got involved was she able to chip away at the barrier of stone he had built around his human heart and reveal him to be nothing more than a frustrated and scared boy whose bleak life was made worse when he was thrown into a world of eldritch horror against his will.

All of that anger and frustration was present within him once again with his revival except now he had no supernatural powers to demonstrate his anger. He was a normal human now with only his words to express his frustration for having his peaceful end stolen from him and being told of his doomed circumstance.

Remilia studied the two large, prevalent scars on Max's back; one under each shoulder where her chains had pierced him when he nearly trapped himself with two Outer Gods in another dimension. It was those chains she used to tear him from the Unspeakable One's grasp and pull him out of whatever dimension he had sent them into. She thought that was the end of it, but it would seem that she was wrong. Even from beyond time and space, the King in Yellow was still in Max's shadow.

Max snapped out of his thoughts when he felt eyes on him. He turned around to find Remilia silently staring at him. "What?" He asked harshly.

As much of a bad omen Max's presence was, Remilia could not deny that she was rather happy to see him again. His face was a pleasing sight, more so now than it was when his eyes were red with that evil god's power. His natural brown color was more suited for him, she thought. The first time she saw his eyes brown was moments before his death. They were full of peace at that moment, at peace and at rest. The anger that they had contained had vanished along with the vile energy that had burned within them. But now they were filled with that anger once again just like when they were red.

Max turned away from Remilia with a tired grin. "Heh… Well ain't this a surprise, eh? Didn't think I'd ever see YOU again." He said with a chuckle. "Now don't take this the wrong way… but I was hoping not to ever see you again. At least not in this life… Y'know what I'm say'n?"

Remilia put on a content smile. "A surprise indeed, Max. Though, I would have preferred that you were in the next world as I originally thought you were." She said.

"Yeah me too, but of course, reality still wants to fuck me hard in the ass a few more times. Do I have a sign on my back that says 'bend me over, please and thank you' or something?" Max said jokingly, but with an upset expression.

Remilia let out a disgruntled sigh. She was always appalled with the way Max spoke before his death and that had not changed at all. She wanted to believe he only spoke the way he did out of anger or stress, but unfortunately for her it was practically his normal way of talking. It would appear death had not fixed his coarse language use. At least she might be able to fix it herself this time, along with his other god-awful mannerisms. It would be difficult, but she gladly took the challenge.

"Y'know what would have been better though?" Max asked while giving Remilia an angry look.

Remilia rolled her eyes, anticipating what she knew was eventually going to come: Max's rambling disapproval about her going to R'lyeh. He always liked to voice his opinion about every action she took, nearly all being insulting and negative. She braced herself for the mountain of insults he was about to throw at her. She just hoped it would be a short rambling so they could move on to more important things.

"I'll fucking tell ya what would've been better. You not going to that fucking place, you ignoramus. I mean seriously, was getting lost in The Void that one time not a good enough hint that you should probably stay the fuck away from eldritch locations? Huh?" Max asked without holding back any of his discontent.

Remilia sighed again then fixated her eyes onto Max's. "As you already know, Max, I needed to retrieve my younger sister." She said exasperatingly.

"Keep the dumb bitch on a leash then if she's stupid enough to go to a place like that. I don't care what kind of dream she had. It was a stupid fucking reason to go there and you fucking know it."

"You may insult me all you want, but do not insult my sister." Remilia scowled.

"Ya damn right I'll insult ya." Max said, not backing down from the intense angry glare Remilia was giving him. "Y'know what would've happened if I hadn't shown up? Do you? Take a guess. No, please, go ahead. I'll wait." He said as he folded his arms to wait for Remilia to speak.

Remilia knew what event he was referring to and could have gone on without being reminded about it, but as expected, he wasn't about to let her forget it.

"Yes, I remember. I remember you taking your sweat time in helping me as well." She said. She then shuddered with a contorted face full of disgust from the memory that popped in her head. "You let that man put his… put his… his thing in my mouth." She shuddered again, the vivid memory refusing to leave her mind. She wanted soapy water to wash her mouth out. Lots and lots of soapy water.

Max only looked increasingly pissed from what Remilia said. "What? You thought I wanted that fucker to do that? I couldn't just go all Jet Lee on them, ya dumb fuck. I needed to find out who were carrying guns. I didn't exactly feel like getting my brains blown out so I could spend the rest of my existence in this fucking piece of medal except instead of my last memory being your smiling face, guess what it would have been. That's right. It would have been of you being fucked by all of those bastards in every hole you have. You think I wanted that?" He said loudly.

Remilia sighed as she felt a little less upset with Max and more upset with herself. She didn't think about how he might have been feeling at that moment. It must have been an awfully stressful and scary situation for him as well and not just for her. Either way, she was very thankful he helped her.

"Since you put it that way… I will apologize for my reckless entry into that city." She said.

"Jesus Christ…" Max grumbled as he turned away from Remilia.

He was angry about a lot of things and they all were jumbled up in his mind, leaving him stressed and mentally exhausted. He wanted to say many more things to Remilia but not while his brain was like an ongoing train wreck. Instead he headed for the door.

"Eh? And where are you going?" Remilia asked.

"Leaving. You're back here in this overgrown house of yours so I got no reason to be in Wonderfuckingland anymore."

"And then where will you go? What will you do?" Remilia asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe get back to the States and live a normal frik'n life for five god damn minutes. Get a job. Maybe knock a girl up even. I don't fucking know and I don't care…" Max said sullenly, and before Remilia could say anything, stormed out the door.

Remilia didn't want Max to leave, at least not yet. She wanted to bring up the two Horrors that had shown up in her mansion, but she knew that would be the final nail on the coffin that would drive him off for good. It was understandable that he wouldn't want anything to do with the Horrors. He hated eldritch horrors more than she did so she wouldn't get mad at him for it, but she was in need of help and she knew Max had the amount of knowledge about eldritch horrors that could provide her that help. For Patchouli's sake, she needed to get him to stay, but how?

Remilia clenched at her blankets. "Damn it…"

She sat in her bed contemplating about whether or not she should chase after Max and about how she would convince him to stay if she did. Forcing him was impossible; he was far too stubborn for such a primitive method of persuasion and she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do so regardless. She had no clue on what to do. Her mind was blank.

She was about to give up and try to figure out how to solve her Horror problem by herself until she felt Max's presence. He had not gone far. He was actually standing just outside her bedroom doors. She wondered what he was doing and simply waited patiently.

As she had hoped, Max walked back into the room.

Max sighed. "Look, Remilia, I'm sorry for yelling at ya. I didn't mean to." He said while avoiding making eye contact with Remilia.

"_Now this is a surprise."_ Remilia thought. When Max remained silent for too long she said, "Well? Go on."

"Uh, yeah… Look, I'm just tired and mad with everything that had happened, alright? First the prick reviving me and giving me the wonderful news about my situation and then that whole shebang in R'lyeh."

A giggle escaped Remilia. "Well, this is indeed a surprise. It would seem you have matured a little. I happily accept your apology."

"Yeah, well I had a lot of time to think alone." Max said sourly.

Remilia nodded. "I believe you do have all the reason to be angry with me for leaving you in that medallion. I apologize for not realizing your predicament sooner."

"Oh, come on. I don't blame you for that at all. How the hell were you supposed to know I was stuck in this thing? Hell, I didn't even know. I thought I was in Hell where I belonged."

"Hmm… It would seem we have a lot of work ahead of ourselves in regards to breaking the chains that still bind you to that medallion. I will do what I can to help you."

"Oh, for the love of…" Max muttered as he rolled his eyes at Remilia. "Yeah, I'm not even going to bother arguing with you about how retarded of an idea that is. You want to screw with this thing then be my guest. Just don't come crying to me if you end up having your mind blown to pieces, got it?"

"How else do you expect to be freed from it then?"

"I don't, ya numskull."

Remilia was flabbergasted by what she was hearing and glared at Max. "Do not tell me you have already given up on breaking out of that Outer God's hold."

"No, you idiot. I haven't given up. I just don't fucking care. And you shouldn't either." Max spat.

"What? Of course I care."

"Why?" Max asked with a sudden sternness in his voice.

"Eh… Well…"

Remilia averted her eyes from the intent look Max now had and fell silent as she thought to herself for a moment. She didn't really have a precise answer to his question and needed to actually think about it for a few seconds. There were a couple of reasons she cared, some that she thought should have already been obvious to Max, and others that were a little more complicated.

"Well… Well, if you honestly need to know my own reason then it is because I do not think you deserve to be left imprisoned in that medallion." She said. "After all, you nearly doomed yourself with those two Outer Gods in order to seal them in another dimension and keep the world safe from them."

"A~nd I would still be trapped with them if a certain stupid vampire didn't nearly ruin everything by saving me." Max said harshly.

Remilia huffed at his apparent ungratefulness. "So I should have left you with them is what you are telling me? Left you with them to do not even God knows what to you?"

"Honestly? Yes. Yes, that is exactly what you should've done. You had no frik'n reason to do what you did. It was fucking stupid and could have royally fucked up everything." Max said solemnly.

He spoke some truth, Remilia thought. She wasn't thinking at all about the consequences when she launched her chains of red magic into the portal to pull him out. The possibility of accidently pulling out one of the Outer Gods, or whatever else that might have dwelled in that other dimension, didn't cross her mind during the time it all happened. It was all done in spur of the moment.

"Well, regardless whether or not what I did was a good idea… I did not expect you to be so unappreciative about it. Guess I should have left you with them then, if that would have made you happier." Remilia said then looked away with a huff.

Max let out a drawn out sigh of frustration. "No, damn it. That ain't it. Look… I am REALLY thankful that you saved me. Trust me on that. I'm just saying it wasn't exactly a smart idea and you shouldn't have risked yourself by doing it. But seriously… Thanks for that." He said with a look of sincerity.

With her arms crossed in front of her and with one leg over another, Remilia glanced at Max with an expression of dissatisfaction. "Hmph… No, I don't believe you really are all that thankful to me. If you were then you would not be complaining about what could have happened and instead focus on what did happen."

She made it sound like she was uncertain with Max's thankfulness, not that she truly doubted it. Of course he was grateful for being saved by her. Who wouldn't want to be saved by the Scarlet Devil herself? She just wanted to get him to thank her more and possibly not just with words. She hoped to milk his gratefulness a little just for a bit fun.

Max growled out of his annoyance with Remilia. "Then don't believe me then. Not my problem." He said uncaringly, though he was hurt on the inside from her apparent rejection of his thanks.

His sour expression lifted a little when he said, "Truth is I probably shouldn't have pulled my little stunt either. Ya remember how bad I was at making extra-dimensional portals? That was an ass pull I did that could have made that Tunguska Incident look like a fucking fireworks show. Except it would've been with a little less fire and a little more Horrors." He chuckled a little at some memories. "Man, what a stupid idea that was. Dumb luck is what saved this world."

"Don't say that. What you did was very novel." Remilia assured.

Max laughed at her comment. "Hardly. To be completely honest… Halfway through with that brilliant plan of mine, I thought it was a bad idea."

"It was novel so have a little pride in what you did." Remilia urged.

"Well I don't think it was."

"That is because you are an idiot." Remilia stated with a sigh then moved to get out of her bed so she could stretch her legs and wings a little, but when she tried to stand, her legs instantly gave out and she fell face-first to the floor with a thud. "Oof! Arg… Damn it all!" She cursed loudly.

"Moronic vampire…" Max mumbled quietly as he went to help Remilia.

"I heard that, you jackass!" Remilia shouted, now angrily frustrated.

She swatted Max's hand away when he tried to help her up then began pushing against the floor with her hands. Quickly she found her arms to be in just as bad of shape as her legs were. Her muscles felt heavy and rubbery, but regardless, she stubbornly continued her struggle to get herself up to her feet, grunting and growling angrily the entire time.

Max was holding in a laugh as he watched Remilia. He gave her several seconds to get up herself before offering some help again.

"Need help?" He asked flatly.

Remilia tried to ignore him, but she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere at the rate she was going. So with a sigh of defeat, she held her hand out to him.

Max grinned then grabbed a hold of the hand held out to him. With a rough pull, he easily lifted Remilia's light body up and sat her down on the edge of the bed.

"Ouch! You hurt me, you buffoon!" Remilia loudly complained.

"Want me to rub it for ya? I can do the rest of your body too if ya like." Max suggested with a smug grin, earning only an angry growl of rejection from Remilia.

"Anyways…" Remilia said as she began massaging her leg muscles to help loosen them up some. "What will you do now that you live again? Will you be leaving Gensokyo to go back to where you once lived?"

"Heh…" Max sat himself down next to Remilia with a somewhat melancholic expression on his face. "Who am I kidding…? I wouldn't know what the hell to do once I left. I'd probably just end up in jail or shot or somth'n…." He said with a depressing sigh following.

Remilia chuckled. "Well then it should be easy for you to accept my offer to stay here. You did assist me in getting my sister back so it is the least I could do." She said with a cheerful smile.

"No." Max said bluntly as he stood up.

Remilia instantly gawked from the unexpected rejection. "N-No? What do you mean no?" She asked as she became a little flustered.

"It was nice seeing you again, Remilia, but I'm not staying in this world. Everyone besides you thinks I'm still dead and gone and it will stay that way." Max said as headed for the door. "Goodbye, Remilia."

Remilia quickly but carefully got off her bed. "Wait! Wait, don't just leave so suddenly!" She exclaimed.

"Goodbye, Remilia." Max said louder, obviously ignoring her calls to wait.

"At least wait until I can get you a change of attire. That outfit is atrocious and you won't be protected outside from the winter wind."

Max looked down at himself. His torso was bare and his battle-torn robes hung loosely on his waist. He simply shrugged without much care for his current appearance.

"I'll live." He said plainly then turned back around to face Remilia and smirked. "You should worry about your own clothes." He chuckled.

Remilia looked down at herself. She was appalled to see that she was still in her dress that was ripped to shreds from her fights in R'lyeh. It was barely hanging onto her waist. In fact, it didn't stay there for much longer and promptly fell to her feet, exposing her womanhood.

"Whoa!" Max exclaimed as his face went red and his gaze instantly went straight up to the ceiling to avoid stealing a glimpse of Remilia's pussy.

Remilia hastily reached down and grabbed her ragged dress and pulled them back up to her waist, now with a beating red face of embarrassment. She grinded her teeth and glared intensely and angrily at Max.

"You rotten pig…" She scowled as she tied her raggedy dress to her waist to keep it from falling a second time. "You already saw me in that city did you not? Must you take advantage of me every chance you get?"

Max faced Remilia again once it was safe to. "I didn't see anything other than your small tits so calm the fuck down." He said.

Remilia huffed and turned her red face away from Max and instantly got to work burying the embarrassing mishap.

She looked to her bed only to see a curious sight. Underneath the blankets was a lump that appeared to be moving. With a raised eyebrow, she faced Max and pointed at the moving lump.

"Max… What is that?" She asked hesitantly and a second after she asked, a groan was heard from the lump.

"Oh, her. Forgot about her. Uh, it's that other blond that was with you. Can't remember her name." Max said.

It wasn't until now that Remilia remembered the human witch that had accompanied her to R'lyeh. She instantly felt guilt for forgetting about her.

"Marisa!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, her." Max said boredly. "Me and that dickhead found her flailing around like crazy. The dumb bitch had went off the deep end and started shooting shit at us. I had to deck her one to get her to stop."

Remilia walked over to the other side of the bed, grabbed the blankets then yanked them off, revealing Marisa curled up in a ball and mumbling in her sleep. She wasted no time in shaking the sleeping witch awake.

"Hold the phone. Let me leave before you wake her up." Max said.

"Max, you won't be able to get out of my mansion without someone seeing you and if they do without a proper explanation, it will most certainly cause a panic." Remilia stated as she continued to shake Marisa. "Wake up, Marisa! Wake up!"

"Fu~ck, you're right. Shit…" Max said despondently. He quickly started to scan the room for a window to leave from, only to find one that was far out of reach of him. "Oh, what the fuck? Why is that all the way up there?!" He complained loudly.

"You weren't thinking of jumping out a window, were you? We are on the third floor, you dummy." Remilia said.

"Bitch, I'll try!" Max shouted his determination.

With her patience dried up, Remilia slapped the sleeping witch across the face, forcing the girl from her sleep.

Marisa's eyes slowly opened. She sat up, groaning from the stinging pain on her right cheek and from the beating pain from her badly bruised nose.

She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes then said, "Huh? Wha-What was that just now, da ze?" She mumbled.

"Marisa, are you alright? How are you feeling?" Remilia asked.

Marisa blinked several times to clear her vision. When Remilia came into sight she went wide-eyed. "Remilia? Holy shit! It's you!" She shouted in great relief then jumped out of the bed and snatched Remilia in a hug.

She tightly squeezed the vampire, feeling much relief from seeing her in one piece. Her head was throbbing in pain from her horrific encounter with what she thought was the King in Yellow, but what she had yet to realize was that it was nothing more than a hallucination brought on by the effects of the evil city on her weakened mind.

"Uhg! Calm down, girl!" Remilia ordered while Marisa squeezed the air out of her.

Marisa released Remilia. She placed her hands on the vampire's shoulders and looked into her eyes with worry in her own eyes. "What happened, ze? I went look'n for ya when that huge boulder took you out. I looked everywhere, but instead of you I found… I found…"

She clenched her trembling teeth, not wanting to say what she had found. It was bad enough that Flandre had run off. Telling Remilia that the Unspeakable One had returned was something she wanted to avoid at all cost, but she had to know.

"I found that guy… That… That thing… That thing in yellow." Marisa said as tears began to show as the terrible memories of the Unspeakable One resurfaced in her mind.

Max sighed, feeling a little pity for Marisa. "No you didn't. That was pretty much just a bad dream." He said.

Marisa went wide-eyed in shock from hearing the voice of a man behind her; a familiar voice to boot. She quickly turned around to see who it was that spoke and when she did, her pupils shrank and her face became filled with confused fear.

"Oh gosh…" She said weakly. "Oh gosh. Oh gosh! Oh gosh!" She yelled as she started to panic.

"Calm down, Marisa. What you saw in that city was probably just a hallucination, but Max here is not. Sit down and let me explai-"

"Oh gosh, we're dead, ze!" Marisa screamed the conclusion she came up with on her own. "I got us killed! I killed us! Damn it! Shit!"

Remilia and Max both face-palmed.

"No, you dumb girl. Just shut up and listen." Remilia said as she grew irritated with the witch. She tried to settle the girl down until she suddenly wrapped her arms around her again and buried her face in her chest. "Goodness gracious, Marisa, will you please calm down. We are not dead. I assure you."

"I can't believe I got myself killed without a fight, da ze!" Marisa sobbed loudly. She then looked up at Remilia, her eyes sparkling from her flowing tears. "Do you have any idea what this means, da ze? It means I gotta return all the things I borrowed! Do you have any idea how long that'll take? I haven't even finished all those books I got from Patchy or Alice!" She whined. "God damn it, ze! Damn it all to hell. Damn it all to- Holy snack attack!"

Marisa jumped up in surprise when Max suddenly came up behind her and tightly squeezed one of her butt-cheeks. She quickly turned around to face her assaulter, face beat red and flustered to the core.

"There, now calm that ass of yours down and shut up." Max ordered.

"Oh gosh, the ghost of Max has come to have his way with my pure soul!" Marisa cried out in excited fear.

"I will if you don't quiet the hell down." Max threatened.

"That is not his ghost, you ignorant child. That is him. He is alive." Remilia said.

"Huh? Buh-Buh -But how? He's supposed to be dead. I know. I saw his good looking corpse." Marisa said with a tense bewildered look all over her face.

Remilia grabbed Marisa by the hand and sat her down on the edge of the bed.

"If you would calm down for five minutes then I could explain." Remilia said.

Marisa curiously looked at Max then back at Remilia. With a nervous sigh, she nodded her head and listened to Remilia's explanation.


	15. Chapter 15 Eldritch Knowledge

Remilia told Marisa what had happened in R'lyeh from after they were split up. She told her about the cult that was there and how they had Flandre and why. She spoke of Cthulhu, but only in minor detail and never by name. Lastly, she explained why Max was alive and of his situation.

Marisa sat on the edge of Remilia's bed with her arms across her chest sitting in deep thought as she carefully reevaluated all that she was told in her head.

First of all: she was very happy to hear that Remilia, Flandre and herself were finally out of that horrible place and in relatively good health. She was ashamed that she failed to provide any meaningful assistance for Remilia, but she tried not to let it bother her too much. They were safe now and that was all that mattered.

Secondly: she was immensely glad to hear that what she thought was the King in Yellow was nothing more than an illusion, though it was still a terrifying experience. She couldn't explain her fear of the eldritch spirit and that alone drove her nuts. She wished she could say she would never have to worry about seeing that thing again, but the sudden appearance of a certain someone had made her rethink that wish.

And then there was Max himself: she was happy he was alive again even if he didn't look too happy about it himself. She hadn't really got to know him, having only talked to him a few times before his death, but she had wanted to. The evil spirit inside of him at the time wouldn't have prevented her from trying to get to know him if given the chance. Even with the grumpy expression he seemed to wear often, he was just too pleasant on the eyes to be afraid of. She saw him as just a normal guy with a nice body who just so happened to have had an Outer God sleeping within him. Now that the thing was out of him, he was even easier to approach. She was happy to have another chance at befriending him and figuring out what kind of person he is. She knew she could. She was, after all, Marisa Kirisame.

With a toothy grin and the nod of her head, Marisa hopped off of the bed and faced Max.

"Well, well, well, Max." She said as she placed a hand on Max's shoulder. "So you helped get us out'a there, huh? I couldn't expect anything less from you after that last incident. You have my many thanks, da ze." She said cheerfully while patting Max's shoulder a few times.

Max simply stared down Marisa, who stood some inches shorter than him. "I only went to that death trap for this stupid vampire. We brought you along only because we just so happened to find you screaming like a moron." He said bluntly.

Marisa let out a nervous laugh and patted Max's shoulders a few more times. "Ah, don't josh me around like that, da ze."

"I'm not, dippy. If we hadn't found ya, you'd probably still be in that city, screaming away like a squirrel on crack."

Marisa's mouth hanged in a gawk from the cruel words he threw at her. "But I-"

"Alright, that's enough. We have more important things to talk about." Remilia broke in.

Max grabbed Marisa by the shoulder and roughly pulled her attention back to him. "Yeah, like you flying my ass out'a here."

"Huh? Where to?" Marisa asked.

"When I first got here I came to some Shrine building so take me there. I'll find my way out'a this damn place from there." Max said.

Marisa frowned upon hearing his desire to leave. "Aww, what? Why you wanna leave so soon, ze?" She asked.

"Because I do. So would ya please take me already?" Max asked, his patience dwindling with every second Marisa remained incompliant.

"You can't leave just like that, buddy." Marisa said as she tossed an arm over Max's broad shoulders, giving him her best smile while he simply glared back at her in annoyance. "You got'a stick around so we can throw you a coming-back-to-life party or someth'n. I know a bunch of people who would like to thank you for what you did, ze." She said. She then earned a painful slap on her behind from Max. "Y'ouch!" She went to her tippy toes and her hands to her butt.

"I wanna leave without anyone knowing I'm alive, ya ninny. Now let's hurry the hell up and get go'n." Max urged impatiently.

"Aw, come on. Don't be like that." Marisa said.

"You are not going anywhere just yet, Max." Remilia stated.

"I'm done talking with you, so be quiet." Max said flatly.

"Yeah. If you leave then who's gonna help us with that Horror in the library?" Marisa said then faced Remilia. "I mean if anybody knows anything about those types of things then it's Max, right?"

Max's face went dark. "A… what?"

"Marisa, be quiet." Remilia demanded nervously, with Marisa giving her a puzzled look.

Remilia didn't want to spill the beans that there had been two Horrors in her mansion, one destroyed and one still inhabiting the mansion's library and possessing her best friend, just yet. Max would certainly take off in an instant if told while he was still in disarray from the events that went on in R'lyeh. But perhaps that was inevitable. She had to speak up about them now and not later. Patchouli had gone on for too long under the possession of an eldritch horror.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Max asked in a harsh tone while glaring at Remilia.

Remilia took a deep breath, exhaled, then looked into Max's eyes. "Max. Please have a seat."

"No." Max rejected.

"Then remain quiet and listen." Remilia said.

She gave Max a quick rundown on what had happened within her mansion; of the Horror that hid below her mansion and of the one in Voile. She already predicted that he wouldn't take the news well, and that he didn't.

Max's eye twitched and his closed fists shook at his sides as he soaked in all that he was told of the two Horrors that had appeared in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. He clenched his teeth and breathed deeply a few times as he tried not to blow his top.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke. "Let me get this straight… You're telling me that you killed a Horror that was apparently sleeping under your mansion and that your friend or whatever is being possessed by what you THINK is a Horror? Is that it?" He said strenuously.

Remilia nodded to confirm. "Correct. And I am positive the thing controlling my friend is a Horror. Joseph confirmed that it was himself." She said.

"Well, Joseph is a fucking dirtbag now ain't he?" Max said curtly.

"That he is, ze." Marisa agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "He also said the one that was under the mansion was named… Uh, what was it? Eihort, I think? Yeah, Eihort."

Max's arms dropped lifelessly to his sides as he gave Marisa a look of considerable disbelief. "You did not just say Eihort." He said despondently.

"I did." Marisa said, and Max let out a disgruntled groan.

She tried looking cheerful for Max to try and keep him from becoming more disheartened than he already appeared to be. It wasn't working, but she wasn't going to give up and kept on smiling. Someone had to smile at dark times like this and apparently she was appointed.

"I assume you recognize that name." Remilia said.

"Yeah and I wish I fucking didn't." Max said then let out a drawn out sigh of discontent. "That mother fucker was supposed to be in England somewhere…"

The appearance of two Cosmic Horrors in her mansion was a blatant sign to Remilia that something was happening. Something she wasn't seeing. She remembered her grim dream of the world falling apart by some otherworldly force. She remembered the eye; the great and terrible eye in the sky that strangled her heart even now. That dream and the Horrors that had appeared had some kind of a connection. That she was sure of.

"Max, Joseph spoke about Eihort's awakening being some kind of sign that the world was ending. What he failed to mention was how exactly." She said. "You know how, do you not?"

"Of course that thing was a fucking sign that shit is gonna end. Every damn Horror is a sign that something's gonna go down. You shouldn't even have to ask after that whole shebang last time." Max said.

"Then how? How will it end? If we know now then we can prepare to stop it. We can't let ourselves be caught off guard like the last time." Remilia said.

"How the fuck should I know?" Max asked sullenly.

Remilia let out a groan of frustration. "Fine. We will focus on the Horror that holds my friend. I need you to-"

"Let me stop you right there." Max interjected. "What I need to do is leave. You on the other hand can do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care what. If after fighting that abomination in R'lyeh you still wanna continue dicking around with soul-eating eldritch assholes then go ahead. Go ahead and be a Cosmic Horror killing stupid vampire. I just. Don't. Care." He said flatly.

"You cannot just walk out of here pretending these appearances won't affect you, Max. You know Gensokyo is not the only place that will be affected if they are left unchecked." Remilia said vehemently.

"What part of 'I don't give a flying fuck' do you not get?"

Remilia scowled. "I saved you from an eternity with those two Outer Gods. The least you can do is assist me in saving my friend."

"And I saved you from a gangbang and an eternity in a fucking wall with your mentally retarded father so I think we're even now." Max shot back bitterly.

"What did you call my father?!" Remilia exclaimed angrily as she stormed up to Max.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second." Marisa said as she threw her arm around Remilia's neck and led her to the other side of the room, out of earshot of Max.

Remilia threw Marisa's arm back off. "What do you want, witch?" She said sourly.

"Come on, Remilia. Give him a break, would ya? He just got revived. He just rescued us from that messed up city. And now you're bombarding him with all these unsettling questions and trying to get him to get involved in things none of us really want anything to do with. Let him relax for a minute before trying to force him to help." Marisa insisted.

"Patchouli has waited long enough. I need him to tell me his input on what kind of Horror it is that is controlling her and how we can go about freeing her without bringing her harm."

"I wanna save that bookworm as much as you do, but how is pissing Max off gonna help?"

"Then how do you suggest we get him to cooperate?" Remilia asked.

"Well…" Marisa put her finger on her chin and started thinking. After a brief moment, she formed a sly grin. "Hee hee. Well… I know of an easy way that would get him to do whatever you want. And it'll only take you about five minutes… If you're good, that is." She said.

"Hm? How so?" Remilia asked curiously.

Marisa chuckled. "Just promise him a little someth'n someth'n in exchange for his help, ze." She suggested.

"Like what exactly?"

Marisa chuckled at how dense Remilia was being. She then placed her closed hand up to her mouth and proceeded to make an obscene gesture involving her stroking the air with her hand and pushing her tongue against the inside of her cheek over and over again.

Remilia watched confused at the odd gesture Marisa was making, but after a few seconds of watching, something clicked in her head and she finally got the implication. Her face went from white to red in an instant.

"What?! No! No, you indecent girl! I will do no such thing!" She shouted in a flustered panic.

Marisa laughed loudly. "Oh, come on. Y'know that would do the trick." She said and for her suggestion, Remilia threw a first into her stomach. "Guh! I… I was just ki-kidding…" She said in a haggard voice as she hugged her injured stomach.

"Patchouli does not have time for your jokes!" Remilia shouted angrily. She turned to face Max then said, "Max, now you listen to me. I need you-"

She spoke to Max, but suddenly found him not to be where he was standing. She looked towards the doors and found them open. He had taken off without her acknowledgment, and that infuriated her.

"Max!" Remilia yelled.

* * *

Max ran down the corridor, looking for the way out of the large mansion. He didn't waste time trying to avoid being seen by the fairy maids, whom would stop what they were doing to watch with flushed faces of bemused wonder as he ran by them, and continued on his way. He was preoccupied with simply getting out of the mansion. Problem was, he had a poor sense of direction and was having trouble even finding the stairs down to the next level.

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "God damn it. How hard can it be to get out of a stupid frik'n building?" He said breathlessly. After he took a few moments to rest he continued on his way.

He ran down to the end of the hallway and made a right turn, running into someone as he went around the corner. He stumbled over the smaller person and fell over top of her.

Max let out a small growl of frustration then looked down at the girl underneath him. "Frik'n hell. Watch where ya go'n." He scowled.

Underneath him laid Flandre, who groaned from the sudden collision. Dazed, she blinked a few times as the dizziness came and went. She opened her eyes fully with an angry expression, ready to pop whoever had the nerve to run her down, but a look of shock quickly took its place when she saw the face of the person over top of her.

"Pa… Papa?" She said.

"I ain't your dad, ya moron." Max said as he stood up. He reached down and grabbed Flandre by the hand then yanked her up to her feet.

"Huh?" Flandre stared at Max in bewilderment. After a short moment she remembered who he was. "Oh! You're that dead boy! Mark!" She stated.

"It's Max. Now shut up and listen. I'm completely fucking lost so I need you to lead me out'a here. Kapeesh?" Max said.

A bright and excited expression appeared on Flandre's face. "This is wonderful! I was sad that you died because I never got the chance to play with you. Big sister will be very pleased to see you as well. We should go find her." She said.

"Fuck no. We're gonna-"

"I need to apologize to big sister, but I'm a little scared to, but with you there she'll be too distracted and not be as angry with me. Hopefuly." She said then giggled, but her nervousness showed a little in her expression.

"I ain't gonna play or help you. Especially after the retarded stunt you pulled." Max said as he glared at Flandre. "You made Remilia chase your ass into frik'n R'lyeh and got her into some serious trouble. I should smack the piss right out'a ya for that."

Flandre's eyes widened from the threat before they started to water up. They went to the floor as she tensed up. "I already know what I did was wrong. I… I didn't mean to cause big sister problems. I just… I just wanted to see papa again…" She said.

Max watched with a little pity as Flandre stared at the floor with sorrow-filled eyes. He placed a hand over his face and sighed then removed his hand. "Alright, look. It's over now. She's fine. Your fine. We'll all good. So just forget about it and don't fucking do it again. I don't wanna have to drag her out of such a place again. Got it?"

Flandre nodded as she wiped a few tears out of her eyes. Her face then glowed in surprise. "You helped my sister?" She asked as she stared at Max with curious eyes.

"Yeah, I did. So do me a favor and get me out'a here."

Flandre tilted her head a little. "Huh? Why would you want to leave after helping her? Aren't you going to stay? You really should. I'd be very happy if you did too!" She said as she grew a little giddy.

"Heh… Well it's nice to see that a dead guy suddenly standing in front of you alive has not bothered you at all." Max said.

"Why would it?" Flandre asked.

Max sighed, having for a second forgotten the kind of place he was currently in. "Alrighty then. Forget about that. I have business elsewhere so would you please take me to the exit?"

Flandre's lips curled up into a mischievous grin. "Fu fu… You can't tease me like that and expect to leave. You have to play with me first." She said as she slowly walked up to Max, her vampiric eyes studying his bare torso with interest.

Max raised an eyebrow. "Tease you? Y'know, in about three seconds I'm gonna make music with your ass if you don't help-"

"Lady Flandre!" The sound of a female shout was suddenly heard.

Max turned around to the sudden shout to see a woman in a maid uniform quickly making her way towards them.

"Oh! Hello, Sakuya!" Flandre greeted with an energetic wave.

Surprised and greatly relieved to see Flandre home and safe, Sakuya bypassed Max completely and ran to the young mistress.

"Oh thank goodness. Lady Flandre, I am so happy you are back. That means Lady Remilia has returned as well, correct?" Sakuya said quickly.

Flandre nodded cheerfully. "Yup! And Max here helped us."

Sakuya's eyebrow arched. "Did you say… Max?"

Before Sakuya could turn around to face him, Max ran up behind her, swung his left arm around her waist and firmly grabbed one of her butt-cheeks with his left hand and gave it a tight squeeze, forcing a loud shrill shriek out of her.

"Oh, yeah! I knew I recognized that ass! Oh, I fucking missed you, baby!" Max said excitedly as he held on tightly to Sakuya and she struggled in his hold.

With one fell swoop, Sakuya reached back behind her, grabbed Max, and swung him over her shoulder, slamming him to the floor and knocking the wind right out of him.

"Oof! Ouch… Forgot you were a bitch." He said breathlessly.

Sakuya's face glowed a bright red in anger. She grinded her teeth as she stared down at the man that had just grabbed her. It wasn't until she recognized the face did she pale up. When Flandre said the name Max, she automatically assumed she spoke of a different person, not the one who laid on the floor on his back.

She took a few steps back from Max as he rose back up to his feet. "Wha… What the? How is this possible?" She said with a drop of sweat rolling down her face. She closed her eyes shut then opened them, hoping the man in front of her was just an illusion, just a trick, but to her despair he was not. "You can't be Max. He's dead."

Max leaned back in a stretch before standing back up straight. He grinned at the confused Sakuya. "Well, I guess the pussy's out'a the bag. I'm alive." He raised his hand out in front of him then pointed at Sakuya, who pulled out a knife from her holster in preparation to defend herself. "And I'm here for your booty. Now give it up."

Flandre giggled. "You're such a naughty boy." She said.

"Man." Max corrected her.

"I don't know how you are alive, but I can only assume you're here with ill intent." Sakuya stated.

Max continued to grin as he took a step towards Sakuya. In reaction, she took a step backwards out of fear for the man. She remembered well the unholy powers he used to defeat her before. She knew she stood no match against such an otherworldly force and the last thing she wanted was to be forced to face it again, but she would regardless if it meant defending the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

She clenched tightly the handle of the knife in her hand. "Lady Flandre, please step away from him." She urged.

"Hm? Why? He's not going to hurt me." Flandre said.

"That is if you do exactly what I say." Max said with a smug expression. "You do a little someth'n for me and I'll leave without any hassle. I'll leave and you won't ever have to see me again. We cool on that?"

He knew Sakuya still thought he had supernatural powers and the temptation to take advantage of that fact defeated his desire to quickly leave the mansion. He wanted to mess with her for a little amusement.

Sakuya remained on guard, cautious of his intentions. "What is it that you want?"

Max's grin grew wider. "Oh, noth'n much. Just get into your birthday suit and I'll be one happy camper."

Sakuya's jaw fell and her face turned red from the request. "Wha-What?!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'd ask you to let me fuck ya but I don't got that kind of time so I'll settle for someth'n I can jerk off to later." Max said plainly.

Sakuya became infuriated and pulled out several more knives, one in between each of her fingers. "Never! I'll never degrade myself for your entertainment!" She yelled.

Max stepped back from the intimidating maid. "Aw, shit. Um… Can I at least get you to show me those tits of yours?" He asked.

"I'll send you straight back to hell!" Sakuya declared.

"Then bring it, ya bitch!" Max yelled as he prepared to fight.

"Die, you scum!" Sakuya shouted then went to throw her knives, but was stopped by the sudden call of her master.

"Sakuya, stop!" Remilia yelled as she ran down the hallway with Marisa right behind her.

"Milady?" Sakuya's face brightened up upon seeing her master.

"Shit!" Max took off running upon seeing Remilia, but didn't get far before Flandre tackled him to the floor. "Oof!" He said upon hitting the marble floor face first.

Flandre tutted as she sat on Max's back. "I don't think so. You can't play with others and not play with me." She said.

"Phew! Just in time before somebody killed somebody, da ze." Marisa said.

Remilia sighed in relief, happy she was able to stop her Chief Maid from slicing Max into pieces, but what relieved her the most was the sight of her younger sister. Having heard that Flandre was safe and well was one thing; seeing her with her own eyes brought much more comfort for her heart than anything else.

"Flan!" She called out and ran to Flandre.

Flandre stood up. "Remi!" She said happily.

The two embraced tightly, their wings fluttering behind them. Marisa and Sakuya happily watched them in silence.

After a few moments hugging her sister with all of her affection, Remilia pushed Flandre away, and with an open palm, delivered a hard smack across her face.

"Oh, come on." Marisa said in disapproval.

Flandre placed her hand over her cheek where a stinging pain was now present and stared at Remilia with a shocked expression.

Remilia stared back with watery eyes, struggling to keep them from turning into tears. "How could you, Flan? How could you run off like that on your elder sister? You cannot believe how much pain you brought me by doing that." She said distraughtly.

Flandre began to tear up as well. "I'm sorry, big sister. But that dream I had of papa was so real… I really wanted to see him again. I miss him and mama." She said.

Remilia hugged Flandre. "I know you do. I do as well, but they are gone now. We need to accept that. The only place we get to see them are in our memoires. And that is fine." She said softly.

Marisa walked up to the vampires and placed a hand on top of Flandre's head and smiled at her. "I'm sure your parents were awesome vampires. Wish I could have met them, ze." She said.

Flandre smiled back. "They were! They were the greatest! Max here even looks like-" She spoke, but was silenced when Remilia cupped her hand over her mouth.

"Flandre…Shut up about that." Remilia said with a slightly pink face.

Marisa raised an eyebrow. "Eh? About what?" She asked.

Sakuya sighed. "You don't want to know…" She said.

Max got back up from the floor. A red mark was on his forehead from when he face-planted into the floor. He grumbled angry words as he rubbed the sore spot.

Sakuya approached Remilia and bowed. "Milady. I am very glad you and Lady Flandre made it back safely, but…" She stood up straight and looked towards Max. "How?"

"Ah, him…" Remilia said. "I will explain only once so listen well."

Remilia quickly briefed Sakuya about her time in R'lyeh and about Max. After the briefing was over, Sakuya walked up to Max.

"So, Max." She said.

Max huffed. "Yeah, yeah. Whaddya want?" He said.

Sakuya gazed into Max's brown eyes in silence for a moment, noticing the lack of the eerie red glow they once had. She looked down at the Yellow Sign Medallion hanging from his neck then back to his face. Then, with a sudden outburst of anger, she decked him across the face, sending him stumbling backwards and holding his nose.

"Augh! The hell was that for?!" Max yelled as a trickle of blood dripped down his nose.

"How dare you threaten me when you don't even have anything to threaten me with, you bastard." Sakuya sneered.

Marisa quickly got in between the two to prevent any more violent actions. "Chill. Just chill, alright?"

"Sakuya! That is no way for my Chief Maid to behave. You know better." Remilia said angrily.

Sakuya quickly bowed to her master. "I deeply apologize, Milady. I let my temper get the best of me." She said.

"See to it that it doesn't happen again. As I told you, Max is devoid of any power and is of no threat. For his services to me he is now a guest here so treat him as one." Remilia said sternly.

"Yes, Lady Remilia." Sakuya said while holding in her deep disdain for the man.

"Yeah thanks, but no thanks." Max said as he wiped the blood from his nose on his arm. "Your little happy family is back together again so I'ma just leave, 'kay?"

Remilia approached Max. "Max… I need you to stay here." She said.

"No you fucking don't." Max strongly insisted.

"You are the only one here with any real knowledge about eldritch gods."

"Yeah. Knowledge I never fucking wanted and knowledge you don't ever need to know. Ever." Max said.

Remilia tensed up from the heated frustration building up in her, but fought to keep a stern expression. "We have had a named Horror appear beneath my mansion. I am certain that the one controlling my best friend also possesses a name. If you can find out that name then you may know of a weakness it may have. A weakness we can exploit in order to safely free Patchouli."

"For fuck sake…" Max rolled his eyes. "I feel for you, Remilia, I really do, but I still don't see how you think anything I might know can help you. Nothing I know of those things can ever help you. You should fucking know that by now."

"We have to try. We can't just let that thing do as it pleases."

"Then you have fun trying without me."

"Don't be such a coward!" Remilia shouted, her frustration spilling out.

"Don't be such a god damn stubborn little asshole! Look at me, Remilia. No. Look." Max said then held his arms out to his sides. "I'm just a normal guy now. I'm done fighting with those monsters. If you want to be a fucking imbecile that wants to keep fighting those things until you shit your brains out then go ahead. I can't stop you." He said.

Remilia clenched her fists. "If you are so grateful that I saved you from being trapped in another dimension then you sure have a funny way of showing it."

"I fucking saved you from that damn city! What more you want from me?!"

Remilia scowled. "You told me, before you died, that you would help me with the rest of the Horrors after you rested. Even if you did not mean these ones, you still said it."

Max's face went dark as he glared intensely at Remilia. "And you told me that I didn't need to worry about them anymore." He said. "I believed you."

Remilia's tense expression faded. She opened her mouth to reply, but she found that she had nothing else she could say. And with that, she knew she had lost any chance in keeping Max in Gensokyo. She had no reason to force him to help her. As much as she didn't want to, she would have to fight the nameless Horror, and whatever other Horrors she feared would soon show, blindly.

She looked down at the floor in defeat, biting her teeth.

Once he was sure Remilia had nothing else to say to him, Max nodded to her, gave the other three girls a two finger salute, then turned to leave, but went no further then where he was already standing. He stood where he was, his fists closed tightly at his sides, lost in thought.

He was already furious with being brought back to life, but being brought back just to be forced to contend with the Horrors he hated so much once again was just a kick in the nuts for him. All he wanted to do was to stay as far away from them as he could and pretend they didn't exist, something he wished Remilia would do instead of going after them like a blind idiot. But alas, he knew her to be just too stubborn, too sure of herself, and too sure he could do something to help her in her stupid endeavors against the Horrors.

Max ran his fingers through his unkempt hair as he let out a disgruntled sigh. "Fuck…" He turned back around to face Remilia. "I don't know what you expect me to tell ya, but I'll at least go and see what that Horror is about. After that, I'm out'a here. Got it?" He said.

Remilia's eyes shot up from the floor to Max's face.

"But I swear to god," Max said. "If that thing eats me, I'm slicing your nipples off."

Remilia looked shocked for a moment upon hearing Max's willingness to help before quickly forming a sincere smile for him.

"Thank you, Max. I knew you wouldn't let me down." She said with a curtsey.

"Yeah, yeah…" Max said as he looked away.

"Yeah, da ze!" Marisa jumped in excitement. "Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I just so happen to have a whole stick of gum right here in my pocket." She said as she pulled out a pack of gum and presented it to everyone. "No idea how long it's been there, but I bet it's still good, ze."

"Sakuya, go and tell that Gate Guard that I have returned and explain to her about Max. Last thing we need is that dumb girl freaking out and smashing his skull in." Remilia said.

"Yes, Milady." Sakuya responded. She couldn't help but smirk a little at the mental picture of such an event.

"Meet me in my bedchambers afterwards. I seriously need to get out of these rags and into something more presentable." Remilia said as she looked at the ruined dress she wore in disgust.

"You want to look good for that frik'n Horror?" Max asked.

"I must maintain an appearance suitable for my noble position at all times, Max." Remilia stated then turned to Flandre. "You go to your room and stay there. Your punishment for leaving not only the mansion but Gensokyo will have to wait." She said.

Flandre puffed her cheeks. "Oh, but I want to help." She pouted.

"You have no right to argue. Now go." Remilia said with an assertive finger-point shooing Flandre off.

"Oh, fine…" Flandre said then made her way to her bedroom.

"Here's a small punishment from me." Max said then slapped Flandre on the ass as she walked by, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Eek!" Flandre cried out.

"Max! Don't you touch her!" Remilia demanded.

"Heh heh. Sorry. Always gotta have a little fun when battling unspeakable horrors, y'know." Max said coolly.

Marisa snickered to herself while Flandre giggled with a flushed face as she took her leave. Sakuya held a knife, ready to stab the guy without a moment's notice if given the order, but to her disappointment no such order came.

"Marisa. You take Max to the entrance of the library. Sakuya and I will meet you both there shortly." Remilia said.

"Copy that, ze!" Marisa said with an energetic salute then turned to face Max. "Let's go, buddy. Let's squash some alien bastards!"

"Yippy…" Max said unenthusiastically.


	16. Chapter 16 The Nameless Horror of Voile

Max and Marisa stood before the entrance to the library, Voile. Marisa studied the doors as she patiently waited for Remilia and Sakuya to join them while Max paced around grumbling to himself, his patience already long gone.

"How long does it take to put on a set of stupid clothes?" Max groaned.

Marisa reached for the ceiling in one big stretch, moaning in relief as a few bones popped. "Chill a little, ze. You've been grumpy nonstop." She said.

"Oh, jee. I wonder why." Max said sourly.

"Come on now, ze. You should be happy you got another go at life. Sure, your soul is stuck in that medallion, but we can help ya with that." Marisa said with an enthusiastic smile and a thumbs up.

Max scoffed at Marisa, making her smile disappear. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He said.

Marisa let out a small groan of aggravation. "Being pessimistic ain't a good way to live, y'know. Have a little faith in the magic that exists here in Gensokyo."

"Look. I appreciate you wanting to help me out and all, but it just ain't happening. I ain't sticking around long anyways so just forget about it."

"Why ya wanna leave so quickly? You got family waiting for you in the Outside World or someth'n?" Marisa asked.

Max let out a shallow sigh then walked up to the doors to the library and leaned his back up against it, his gaze going to the floor at his feet. "I don't."

A sad smile of pity appeared on Marisa face. "Sorry to hear that, bud, but that's all the more reason to stay here. Things will return to normal once we kick that thing in there out and then you can live without a care in the world. I'm willing to bet Remilia will let you stay here in her mansion."

"It's not that simple."

"Of course it ain't. I'm not saying it is, ze."

Max said nothing else, leaving Marisa to gaze at his glum face and study it. She wasn't sure what to do to get him to cheer up. Any positive assurances from her were rejected outright or simply went unheard. Being passive with him wasn't working, so she decided to be more verbally aggressive.

Marisa walked over to Max and leaned against the library doors next to him. "You think too much." She stated sternly. Max looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "You're thinking too much about the Horror in there. Stop it."

"I'm not thinking about it." Max said.

"Then stop thinking about whatever it is that you're thinking about. It's obviously not making you feel all that great so stop it. Think about something that'll make you happy. Doesn't matter what as long as it doesn't make you frown all the time." Marisa said.

"Heh heh… Think happy thoughts, huh?" Max asked.

"As goofy as it sounds, yes." Marisa said with a bright smile.

"It ain't like I'm not trying, y'know."

"Don't try. Do, da ze." Marisa said then playfully pushed Max with her shoulder.

Max grinned and pushed Marisa back, nearly knocking her off her feet. "Don't get all bossy on me now. The vampire is already playing that role." He said.

Marisa took the hardy shove as a challenge. With a toothy grin, she went to shove him back with a little more force, but stopped when Remilia and Sakuya arrived.

"Speak of the devil. Literally." Marisa said.

Remilia had changed out of her ruined pink dress and gone with a white one. It was red on the inside and it had a small red ribbon tied into a bow at the chest. Her white cap came with a red ribbon tied into a bow of its own.

"It's about frik'n time. What did you do? Sew the damn dress yourself?" Max said waspishly.

"I was not gone that long, Max. Be a little more patient." Remilia said.

"Hey, whatever. You're the one with the friend in there with a Horror." Max said then faced the door. "Alrighty then. Let's get this over with."

Remilia approached the doors. "It does not seem like that thing put up another seal after we left." She said in relief.

"Yeah, that was the first thing I checked for." Marisa said.

With no obstacles in the way, Remilia pushed the doors open to Voile. As the doors opened, a green light flashed over everyone's faces. They winced from the light, but once the doors were fully opened, all that could be seen was a wall of glowing green fog. Everyone looked on at the sight, baffled.

"Well, that ain't good." Marisa said, backing away as the green fog slowly crawled out across the floor.

"It was not like this the last time I checked on Patchouli and her servant and that was not long before you returned, Milady." Sakuya said worriedly.

"Let us make haste then. Who knows what that thing is plotting to do." Remilia said.

"I ain't go'n in there." Max said as he took a few steps back from the library entrance.

"Looks like the only man here is afraid." Sakuya taunted plainly.

"Damn right. Scared I'll get lost in there with all that shit. Can't stand get'n lost." Max spat.

"We will just stay close together as to not lose anyone." Remilia said.

Max lips quickly curled into a grin. "Best idea you've had yet." He said.

He stepped between Marisa and Sakuya, wrapping an arm around their waist and pulling them close to him. Marisa chuckled, not really bothered too much, while Sakuya struggled to maintain a calm appearance as irritation creeped its way into her expression.

"Sorry, Remilia, but your shit out'a luck. I only got two hands." Max said with a cocky laugh. He then received a punch in the gut from Remilia, forcing him to release the girls and hunch over in pain. "Smooth…" He said breathlessly.

"Enough fooling around." Remilia demanded then turned to the green fog. "Now follow me." She said then led the way into Voile. Sakuya followed, with Marisa guiding the hurting Max close behind.

As the group entered the green fog, a strange tingling sensation washed over them. They all cringed from the odd feeling of thousands of needles pricking at their skin relentlessly. Their minds felt heavier, their balance appeared compromised, and their chests felt like ice with every breath they took. They could only see so far with the presence of the fog.

Yet despite the fog hindering their sight and sense of direction, the group easily found their way to the center of the library even after what was only a short walk and in one direction.

"It felt like we were purposely led here." Sakuya suggested.

"I believe that is exactly what happened." Remilia replied.

"Guess the thing ain't too concerned about us strolling in here, ze." Marisa said.

The group came to the center of the library where some tables were placed. At one table sat the possessed Patchouli. Her face was glued to a book, seemingly oblivious to the group's arrival. Her purple eyes remained covered with an eerie green glow as they traveled down the page of the book. Next to her stood Koakuma, whose eyes appeared dead and empty. Her lips moved as if she was muttering to herself.

Marisa quickly took notice of Koakuma's eyes. "And that ain't good either." She said.

Remilia studied Koakuma's face as she approached the table. She was already regretting leaving the servant with the Horror. She worried about what the thing may have done to her while they were gone, assuming it even needed to do anything other than be present.

Remilia walked up to the seemingly bewitched familiar and tugged on her black skirt. "Koakuma." She said, but nothing came from Koakuma, only unintelligible words.

"I got this." Marisa said as she walked up to Koakuma. She leaned into her ear, breathed in deeply, then shouted, "Yo, Koakuma!"

Koakuma jumped up, startled from the loud shout to her ear. "Huh? Wha?" With life returning in her eyes, she looked around franticly. Her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing everyone. "Oh, thank goodness. You have returned, Lady Remilia." She said with a hand to her beating heart and with a sigh of relief.

"That we are, Koakuma. Now tell me what this-"

"Hold it." Max interrupted Remilia as he pushed his way towards Koakuma. He stopped in front of her and ran his eyes up and down her body.

"Um… Yes?" Koakuma asked, looking a little befuddled from the presence of an unfamiliar man.

Max scanned Koakuma's body several times, nodding in approval at every curve and slope he laid his eyes on. "Question. Where the fuck have you been all my life?" He said, his eyes focused mostly on her plump chest.

"Excuse me?" Koakuma said. She blushed a little, not minding at all that Max was checking her out, but embarrassed that he was being less than subtle about it.

"Max, for crying out loud." Remilia said in protest.

Marisa walked up beside Max and Koakuma. "I don't think you guys met so allow me." She said happily. "Max. Koakuma. Koakuma. Max."

"Max?" Koakuma said with a curious look.

"Yeah, he's that guy we buried last year after that crisis. He's here to help your boss out. He may not have the power but he may know the way." Marisa said as she patted Max's back.

Koakuma's face brightened from the news. With a cheerfully smile, she took Max's hand. "Hello, Max! It's so nice to meet you alive." She said.

"And it's very nice to see you as well." Max said with a grin and eyes still on Koakuma's chest.

"Alright, enough of the introductions." Remilia said as she pulled Max, to his annoyance, away from Koakuma. "Koakuma, tell me what this thing has been up to."

"Oh, yes. Well… Not much since you were last here. It just sits there and reads." Koakuma said.

"But what of this fog?" Sakuya asked.

Koakuma shrugged her shoulders. "One minute there was no such fog. The next minute it is here. That is all I can say. I have no explanation for its appearance." She said sadly.

"Whatever it is, it's making my throat and lungs feel like they're filled with ice-cold syrup." Max said.

"Ditto here." Marisa said.

"As you already know, Lady Remilia, I'm able to safely roam the entirety of this library with my eyes closed without problems. But since this fog appeared I have been unable to walk down a single aisle without getting lost. I believe the fog can disrupt one's ability to navigate."

"Hmm… Sounds like it is trying to hide something." Remilia said.

"Well then let's just ask the bastard." Max said.

Everyone watched as Max walked over to the possessed Patchouli.

Still seemingly oblivious to everyone's presence, she continued to read her book in silence. It wasn't until Max grabbed the book and threw it off to the side did the Horror snap out of its reading trance.

The possessed Patchouli looked towards where the book was thrown. "Oh… Oh, my. How did that get over there?" She asked, her normal voice overshadowed by a second voice of a male, a deep and dark voice that caused Koakuma to shiver, seemingly in pain.

Max grabbed Patchouli by the front of her clothes and lifted her off her feet. "Alright, you prick. Stop ignoring me and start talking." He demanded.

"Don't hurt her! Please, don't hurt her!" Koakuma begged while Marisa held her back.

"Chill, da ze. Let the man work. He knows what he's doing. Kind of…" Marisa said as she held the panicky Koakuma.

"Remember, Max. That's my friend's body. Don't be rough with her." Remilia said urgently.

Max turned his head to face Remilia. "You want me to help or not? If so then keep your cocksucker shut." He said.

Marisa covered her mouth as she snickered while Koakuma covered her mouth in shock. Sakuya stood silently, stupefied at the foul language that was thrown at her master so freely.

Remilia's face glowed red as she fumed. "Why you…" She growled.

The possessed Patchouli looked around at everyone, observing their faces with each glance. She smiled happily. "Why, hello there, everyone. It's… It's so nice to see you again." She said in her strange voice. She then looked into Max's eyes, a dark and foreboding grin forming. "Ah… You even brought the Harbinger with you this time. Hello… Hello, Max. How… do you do?"

Max harshly threw Patchouli back down into her chair, causing Koakuma to squirm from the rough treatment of her master's fragile body. Marisa kept a hold on her and gestured her to remain calm.

Glaring down at the grinning Patchouli, Max huffed. "Alright, asshole. Let's make this quick and painless. Just let this girl go so we can get on with our lives, m'kay?" He said.

Patchouli shook her head from side to side in rejection. "I am afraid I cannot do that, boy. I… wish to remain here… to wait." She said.

"Wait for what? Why Patchouli and why here?" Remilia asked.

Patchouli's eyes slowly moved towards Remilia, sending an icy chill into her heart with her alien gaze. "Why don't you just ask the Harbinger?" She said.

Remilia turned to Max. "What does it mean by that?" She asked.

"Not a damn clue." Max replied then grabbed Patchouli by her clothe and glared at her with threatening eyes. "Enough jerking us around. Why are you here, you son of a bitch? Why come here? What's so fucking special about this place that you bastards feel the need to appear here?" He asked strenuously.

And the possessed Patchouli laughed a sickening laugh. "You... You know why, Harbinger. Sto... Stop pretending you don't hear the stars screaming as I do. Stop pretending you don't FEEL their wretched screams. Their agonizing moans. Their… delicious trembling. Their delightful... pitiful ends..." The creature shuddered in abnormal pleasure.

"Fucking alien piece of shit." Max grumbled angrily as he shoved Patchouli, nearly sending her off the chair and walked away and approached Remilia and the others.

Remilia grabbed Max's arm, getting his attention to her. She looked up at him with worried eyes.

What the possessed Patchouli had said reminded her of the vanishing stars in her nightmare. She could not help but assume the thing was referring to what had happened in her dream. Her heart ached just thinking about it.

"What did that thing mean by that? Tell me." She said.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "I donno. Could mean a lot of things." He said.

"Got any idea who that thing is by any chance? It seems to know who you are." Marisa said.

Max looked back at the possessed Patchouli, feeling a sense of dread from looking into her seemingly hungry eyes as she quietly stared back. With a shiver running up his spine, he quickly turned away. He only nodded at Marisa's question.

"I can tell ya why this fog is here." He looked off into the distant library. "The Horror is controlling pajama girl remotely. It's out there somewhere and the fog is here to hide it. At least that's what I think."

Everyone looked uneasy, bothered by what he had said, all except Marisa.

"That's good then, right? We won't need to do anything fancy to free Patchy. Just find the thing controlling her and kick its ass." Marisa said with the pump of a fist.

"That is a rather assuring thought, but I fear what kind of power the thing has." Koakuma said. "If it can control Lady Patchouli with such ease… Who knows what else it can do?"

"Er… Good point." Marisa said despondently.

Everyone went into their own thoughts in silence, thinking up their own ideas for a solution to the Horror problem.

Remilia wanted to simply go out and find the alien being and destroy it, but she didn't want a repeat of R'lyeh by attacking the thing blindly. She also wanted to know why the thing appeared to begin with. Knowing why might put light on what sort of eldritch evil she was sure was coming. She suspected Max had an idea and was refusing to speak about it, either consciously or subconsciously. Forcing him to tell her was out of the question so all she could do was either find out herself or hope he would come around and tell her. She hoped patience would bring her the answer before it was too late to do anything about it. For now, all she could do was focus on freeing Patchouli.

"Max." Remilia said, pulling Max out of his own thoughts and gaining his attention. "That Horror had requested a particular book. I was thinking it may be the real reason it had appeared." She said.

"It did?" Max asked.

"Oh, that's right. I totally forgot about that, ze." Marisa said. "It said it wanted to see Alice's grimoire. You remember Alice. Don'tcha, Max?" She said as she nudged Max's shoulder.

"All I remember is a stupid blond, tight ass girl who seriously needed to get bent like the maid here." Max said curtly, earning a hateful glare from Sakuya.

"Yup, that's her." Marisa said with a nod.

"Can you think of any reason why the Horror would be so interested in a particular book?" Remilia asked of Max.

Max let out a sigh. "I'd have to see the book. Might be able to get an idea of what it's up to if I see what's in it." He said reluctantly.

Remilia smiled at Max. "So, you will continue helping us. Thank you, Max." She said happily, while Max simply groaned.

"Yes. Thank you very much, Max." Koakuma said as she grabbed Max's hand and squeezed them softly. She moved her face close to his, gazing into his eyes affectionately. "If you help my master, I will be so very grateful and forever in your debt." She said.

Max's face reddened a little. "Uh… Yeah. Sure. No problem. Always glad to help." He said nervously.

Koakuma wrapped her arms around Max and pushed her chest up against his in a tight embrace. "I really mean it. You have no idea how precious my master is to me." She said.

Max grinned ear to ear. "I got your back on this." He said, the thought of the Horror and the book suddenly out of mind.

He grew aroused from the soft breasts pushing up against his bare chest. His eyes went straight to Koakuma's butt where her tail swayed from side to side tauntingly, sending him into a dilemma of either grabbing the demonic tail or the perfectly shaped ass.

As she hugged Max, Koakuma showed Marisa a smug grin filled with arrogance. She taunted the witch by caressing Max's back with her finger tips, gliding them up and down his spine, her suggestive eyes never looking away from Marisa's disapproving glare.

Marisa folded her arms together and huffed, glaring back at Koakuma with eyes of envy.

"That's quite enough. He doesn't need that kind of motivation." Remilia said as she grabbed Max by his pants and pulled him away from Koakuma.

"Forgive me, Lady Remilia." Koakuma said with a quick bow.

Max glared at Remilia angrily. "The hell you do that for?" He said, earning a huff from Remilia as she looked away.

Marisa nudged Sakuya's shoulder. "Someone's a little jealous." She whispered.

"You're not one to talk." Sakuya said flatly.

Marisa laughed nervously. "No idea what you're talk'n about, da ze." She said as she smacked Sakuya on the back.

Remilia cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention back to her. "It is settled. Max, Marisa and I will pay the puppeteer a visit and find out what our little friend here is planning." She said.

"Gonna be tough getting her to let us see what's in that book of hers, ze." Marisa warned.

"I have plenty of spell cards to persuade her with so that will not be a problem." Remilia said confidently.

"We ain't go'n anywhere." Max stated as he glared down at Remilia, who looked back in confusion. "You just got back from fighting with the Dead Dreamer. Take a fucking break." He demanded harshly.

Remilia's eyes widened in surprise from the tone Max used, but was far from happy about it and returned his glare with a glare of her own. "I do not need you telling me what I need to do." She scowled.

"Then I ain't help'n. Bye." Max said flatly then went to leave.

"Wait! No! She didn't mean that. Please don't go." Koakuma begged softly as she wrapped her arm around Max's arm, preventing him from leaving.

"As much as it pains me to agree with the man… I have to insist you rest also, Lady Remilia. You look worn out." Sakuya said.

"Yup. I'm pooped also, ze. Not sure if I could handle flying let alone fighting with Alice." Marisa said.

Remilia was backed into a corner. She didn't want to admit it, but she was indeed worn out from her battle in R'lyeh. Very worn out. Thinking about it, it would also be stupid to try and confront another Cosmic Horror of great power in such a fatigued state. She had no other choice; she gave in to the demand.

She huffed. "Fine. I will remain here." She said then turned to Sakuya. "Sakuya. Take Max and go to the puppeteer's home. Marisa will give you the directions."

"Yes, Milady." Sakuya said with a bow, completely ignoring the lecherous stare Max was giving her.

Max placed an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, causing her to look away in disgust. "Me and maid girl alone in the woods? Heh. We might not be home before dark. Just say'n." He said, grinning smugly.

Sakuya elbowed him in the gut, forcing him to release her. "Keep your hands off me." She huffed and brushed her uniform off.

"I really think I should be the one to go with him." Marisa insisted.

"Why is that?" Remilia asked.

Marisa gestured Remilia to her, and Remilia complied. "Don't ya remember the kind of relationship those two had?" She asked in a quiet voice.

Remilia thought for a second, quickly remembering what Marisa was referring to. "Oh, yes… Yes, I see now." She said.

"She'd have him hanging upside down by puppet strings with one of her explosive dolls up his ass before Sakuya could even get a single spell card off, da ze." Marisa said. "Listen. I know you wanna free Patchy as soon as possible, but we all gotta relax first. Max could also use a rest so maybe he'll stop being so damn ornery. After we chill for a bit, I'll borrow a broom from your maid and take him with me to Alice's place. If I explain things to her myself, maybe, just maybe, she'll let us take a peek inside her grimoire without too much hassle. How's that for a game plan, ze?"

"Hmm…" Remilia gave Marisa's suggestion a quick thought then agreed to it. "Alright. Not like we have any better plans."

"It's settled then, da ze." Marisa said cheerfully.

"You two done over there or what?" Max called out.

"Be patient, Max." Remilia demanded.

"Patient my ass." Max said rudely. "So, ya gonna take five?"

"I will remain here and gather my strength back, as will you and Marisa." Remilia stated.

"I'm fine." Max insisted.

"If you're going to demand that I rest then you will as well." Remilia said sternly.

"For fuck sake…" Max grumbled. "Fine."

Remilia turned to Koakuma, who was resisting the urge to turn around and face her possessed master. "I think you should leave the library for the time being. Staying in this strange fog is hazardous." Remilia said.

Koakuma looked appalled by the suggestion. "But, I cannot leave-"

"No buts. Just do as I say. Last thing Patchy would want is to find that her servant's mind eroded away by some alien magic." Remilia said.

"Trust me when I say it was absolutely stupid of you to stay near a Horror in the first place. These retards shouldn't have left you here." Max chimed in, earning a smack across the back of the head from Marisa. "Ow! Son of a…!" He growled as he glared at Marisa, who looked away, whistling innocently.

Koakuma forced herself to turn around and look at the possessed Patchouli. The alien creature, looking out from the mage's eyes, gazed at her with depraved interest, the grin it wore both sickening and appalling. Koakuma tensed up in anger as she looked into those unholy green eyes, wanting nothing more than to tear to pieces whatever was controlling her master with her own hands. But even with all of that burning rage, she could not help but shiver from the chilling fear that the thing injected into her with its gaze.

"Let us go, Koakuma." Remilia ordered.

Koakuma looked away from her master and with a sad expression, nodded.

Marisa smiled for the depressed Koakuma. "Don't worry, ze. We'll free that bookworm in no time at all." She assured, earning a small but weak smile from Koakuma.

Sakuya led the way with Marisa and Koakuma close behind. Remilia and Max soon followed.

Remilia stopped and turned around to face Max while the rest of the group made their way to the exit.

Max stood silently, already expecting her wanting more information from him.

"Max… Do you think Patchouli is okay?" Remilia forced herself to ask.

She wasn't sure why she asked that. Asking Max was not going to get her any assurance that her best friend was safe. Asking someone else like Marisa or Sakuya would get her a much more desirable answer. She figured, deep down, she desired a more truthful answer than that of a hopeful guess, rather it was positive or not.

Max let out a deep sigh. "You want the truth?" He asked.

"Yes." Remilia said. She didn't. She was afraid of it. Afraid of what the reality of her best friend's predicament was.

Another deep sigh left Max's lips as he struggled with the words to say. His eyes locked onto Remilia's yearning eyes.

"You remember the Crawling Chaos?" Max said, cringing slightly in mental pain as he spoke the words.

Despair struck Remilia in the heart. She too cringed from hearing the title of the cursed deity. Already she regretted asking for a truthful answer from Max. She couldn't speak so she answered with a simple reluctant nod.

Max was reluctant to continue telling her what he thought, seeing how bothered she already was, but she had asked for the truth herself, so he would tell her that truth as she requested.

"If that thing is who I think it is… then expect him to be just as fucked up as that bitch was or worse." Max said as sweat began to roll down his stressed expression. "If that thing is the Depraved One… then your friend's soul is probably dead."

* * *

With their plans temporarily on hold, Remilia provided separate rooms for Max and Marisa to rest in. Once her gusts were settled in, the exhausted Scarlet Devil retired to her own bedchambers.

Dressed in a black one-piece, Remilia sat at the edge of her bed, waiting for her maid to return with a small snack. It was early morning in Gensokyo, a time she would normally still be out and about, but the act of overexerting herself had finally taken its toll on her, both mentally and physically. Even a great vampire such as herself needed to rest every once in a while.

A blistering headache and a strained heart weighed her down. She was hiding the pain from everyone the best she could, but now it was obvious with one look at her.

Remilia was very distressed about sleeping while a Horror inhabited her mansion. She hoped the little treat Sakuya was bringing her would help relieve her of some anxiety so that she may fall asleep. Recovering her strength was urgent and a good night's rest was part of that recovery.

She sat quietly, swinging her legs back and forth while she waited for Sakuya. As she waited, she thought of what Max said about Patchouli. She tried telling herself that he was simply being pessimistic as always, but she couldn't fool herself into not accepting the possible reality. She suspected the worse as well, after all. The thought caused her mental anguish and would certainly keep her awake. Damn Sakuya for being slow with her snack at such a crucial time.

After what felt like forever to Remilia, Sakuya finally arrived, but she carried nothing with her. Sakuya's face appeared red and she seemed to struggle keeping a calm and collected expression.

"You kept me waiting, Sakuya." Remilia said plainly.

Sakuya bowed. "I apologize, Milady. That man-"

"Ah, say no more, Sakuya." Remilia said, already knowing what her Chief Maid had to say.

She was angry about Sakuya taking so long to come to her bedroom, but the second she walked through those doors, that anger vanished. Only relief that she was there remained. Her hands were already begging to reach out and grab the beautiful maid. She fought to keep them at her sides and under control.

Remilia refrained herself as to take the time to look at her precious Chief Maid. She liked having attractive people around her to marvel at, to call them hers. Sakuya's wonderfully developed shape was one of the best she had ever seen. At times she would look at Sakuya with jealous eyes. Sometimes she wished that her father had waited a few more years before turning her into a vampire. Just a few more years wouldn't have hurt, would it?

Sakuya stood silently as she watched her master gaze up and down her figure. She watched as her master clenched at the beds edge, digging her sharp nails into them, squirming as her desire for her slowly awoken her suppressed vampiric nature. Not a desire for her body, but for her blood.

The thought of blood was constantly on Remilia's mind the second she awoke in her bed. It distracted her considerably and nearly drove her crazy. She had let herself be deprived of blood for far too long. A foolish mistake. The entire time, she was desperately resisting the urge to jam her fangs into Max, into Marisa, into Sakuya, into anyone that entered her vision, human or not. Now she could finally get a taste of the red fluid she craved so badly. But she wanted more than that and that required her to be patient just a little longer.

Curling her pointer finger, she motioned Sakuya to her. Sakuya complied without hesitation and approached her master. The second Sakuya got within reach, she grabbed her and threw her onto the bed, lying herself overtop of the now visibly surprised maid.

Remilia's body shook as she struggled to keep her blood craving under control. She stared intently into the blue eyes of her maid with bated breath, smelling the sweet cent Sakuya gave off.

"Saaakuuuyaaa." She sang.

"Y-Yes, Milady…?" Sakuya said, shivering in strange pleasure from the way her master said her name.

"Saaakuuuyaaa. Saaakuuuyaaa." Remilia repeated the name she herself had given her maid.

She caressed Sakuya's cheek, her gaze never leaving those dark blue eyes. She placed the tip of the nail of her pointer finger on Sakuya's throat then lightly dragged it down her uniform, popping off the buttons of her blouse one by one. Sakuya's round breasts almost burst out, only being held in by her white bra. One quick flick of Remilia's sharp nail fixed that, sending Sakuya's breast's spilling out with a bounce.

Remilia smiled with teeth clenched together. She kept her teeth tightly together as to not accidently find her own fangs in Sakuya's neck prematurely. She needed to work up to that moment. Going straight for the blood would spoil the delicious meal. What was needed first was to hear something from her maid. Something that would resonate blissfully from her ears and to her heart.

"Sakuyaaa. There is something that is still not in my possession." Remilia said quietly as she placed a hand over Sakuya's left boob and softly groped it. Such a soft breast it was. It was impossible not to find joy by simply playing with them.

Sakuya swallowed hard. She knew exactly what her master was talking about and was wishing she wasn't going to bring it up, but she sort of expected she was, so it wasn't surprising.

"Where is my rosary, Saaakuuuyaaa?" Remilia said, singing her maid's name once again.

Remilia was still upset over the theft of her treasured rosary. Very upset. But she was using it now as an excuse to drive her nails into her precious maid and hear her cries. And that was what she did. With a tight squeeze, all five of her sharp nails dug into Sakuya's breast, drawing blood.

"L-Lady Remilia!" Sakuya cried out from the painful piercing of her boob. She winced and moaned a little from the stinging pain.

Remilia's gleeful, almost crazed, smile grew. She adored those cries. It brought great pleasure to hear Sakuya call out her name. Hurting her just to get her to cry out required justification though and Sakuya's failure to prevent the theft of her treasured rosary was the perfect excuse. She would more than gladly use less painful tactics to get her to moan and squirm, but she didn't think she deserved that kind of treatment at the moment.

Remilia quivered in delight upon seeing the flow of blood. Just touching the red liquid felt nice. And the smell; oh god, the smell. The smell made her feel light-headed and dizzy, more than she already was. Just a few more seconds and she might pass out just from taking in the arousing scent. She resisted the strong urge to lick the blood up and forced herself to wait just a little longer.

Sakuya did not wish to be hurt, but she was more than ready to allow her mistress to use her body to vent out her frustration and anger, especially when she knew she was a source of such emotional pain. She would simply take the pain she would receive from her master and give it to those who had stolen Remilia's rosary; with interest, of course.

Another moan found its way through Sakuya's lips as Remilia squeezed her right boob with her other hand, drawing more delicious smelling blood. Like a child, she watched in awe as the blood flowed across Sakuya's skin. The blood stained her maid's uniform as well, making her more alluring than before.

With her claws, Remilia slowly dragged them down Sakuya's stomach, cutting both her uniform as well as her skin, but not too deeply. Just deep enough to get the blood flowing and the maid moaning.

"Ha! Nnnah! Miss… Misstress…" Sakuya moaned.

She needed to speak every once in a while during these kinds of feedings, less Remilia forget who it was she was feeding from in her beastly state and get too violent. It was very rare to see her master lost in her desire for blood as she was now. Her fight in that faraway place must have drained her far more then she was letting on. How typical of her stubborn mistress.

Another light slash of Sakuya's arm, another moan. "Errah! Ah!" A light slash of her hip, and another cry of Remilia's name. "Lady Remilia! Ah! Nnn!"

Remilia had to stop for a moment or lose what control she had left over herself and accidently slash her precious maid into ribbons. Her mind was so clouded up now, made it hard to think and hard to feel anything other than pleasure. It was perfect.

Sakuya laid stretched out in the bed, covered in her own blood and breathing heavily. The look in her mistress's glowing eyes told her it was time. All that was needed for her was to relax her body and mentally brace herself.

Remilia's mind became full with nothing but the desire for blood. Her body moved on its own, free from any sentient control. She hissed as her fangs protruded outwards. Her eyes glowed scarlet red. And with one bite, her fangs went into Sakuya's neck.

Sakuya gawked from the painful pressure, but no sound came out. She almost passed out, but she fought to remain conscious while her beloved master fed upon her. Her labored breathing and fast beating heart mixed with the sound of her master drinking.

If Remilia was anything but a light eater she would have surely drained Sakuya dry, but after only a few moments past, she removed her fangs from the trembling maid. Her mind slowly cleared back up as she savored the incredible taste of human blood, licking every drop left on her lips with her tongue. She took a few seconds to drag her tongue around Sakuya's blood covered breasts, cleaning them up for her.

With a sigh of satisfaction, Remilia fell forward on top of her maid. "I'm… I'm sorry… Sakuya…" She said as she panted.

"Please don't be, Milady. I am glad… Glad I was able to help ease some of the pain. As always" Sakuya said as she remained still.

Remilia rested her head on the soft breasts of her maid, her eyes slowly closing. "It was great… I feel so much better now. Please let me stay like this… Just until… Just until… I…"

Remilia failed to finish her sentence before falling into deep sleep. A much needed sleep that would be pleasant and comforting. A sleep that was free from the Horrors that desired to enter her dreams and disturb her soul. Free from the rigorous thoughts of the recent events and of the future. This sleep would be a dreamless sleep.


	17. Chapter 17 Rough Reunions

In the confines of one of the many rooms of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Marisa laid curled up in her bed underneath the blankets, sleeping peacefully with only the occasional small murmur. Her clothes were scattered about the room without care, all except her witch's hat, which she had forgotten to remove and remained on top of her head.

The second Marisa had shut the door behind her, sleep had already taken its hold on her. She didn't show it, but she was still worn out from her short time in R'lyeh; mentally speaking. As much as she tried not to look all that bothered by the appearances of new Cosmic Horrors, as much as she tried to fool herself into thinking that it was nothing to fret about, she could not push aside the torturing feeling in both her mind and in her heart that something else was out there waiting, simply waiting. Every time she would think about what it could be, only the image of the King in Yellow would flash in her mind. She would tell herself that he was gone, trapped in another dimension, but sometimes she wondered.

A good rest was what she felt was needed to help clear her mind of unwanted thoughts, but after only an hour or two of peaceful sleep, the small creak of the door to her room opening managed to nudge her awake a little.

Remaining in her curled up position under her blankets, Marisa groaned in annoyance. A minute passed and with no further sound she slowly drifted off into sleep again.

The creeping sound of footsteps yanked her back into consciousness, not fully, but enough for her to feel annoyance with the troublesome sound. Another groan from her, louder this time.

The footsteps stopped, and once again she slowly fell into sleep, but the sudden sound and feeling of something pushing down on her bed drove her awake.

"Seriously, what the hell is that noise…?" Marisa mumbled.

She tossed the blankets off her as she sat up, revealing her white undergarments of tank-top and bloomers as well as her tired face. Her eyes slowly widened and her cheeks went pink when she found an unexpected visitor staring back at her.

"Ma…Max…?" She croaked.

Leaning over the bed towards Marisa was Max, now dressed in a fine black European uniform from the renaissance era. He made a quick scan of Marisa before setting his focus on her eyes.

"Rise 'n shine, Sweetheart. We got shit to do." He said.

The shade of Marisa's rosy cheeks darkened. "Ze? Swe-Sweetheart?" She stuttered.

Max looked down at Marisa's bloomers then clicked his teeth in disappointment. "What the hell are those supposed to be? A mutated form of boxer shorts?" He asked.

Flustered, Marisa quickly pulled the blankets back over her. "Wah-Wah-Wait a darn minute! Why are you here sneaking into my bed?" She said.

"Just take the damn things off." Max ordered.

And Marisa's entire face glowed red. "Wha-What?! I knew you were bold, but jeez! I just woke up, da ze! Even if you come in here dressed up all classy like…Y-You can't just crawl into my bed and expect me to sleh-sleep with you, y'know." She said.

Max simply arched an eyebrow in response.

"Ahem…"

A sudden cough pulled Marisa's attention to the open bedroom door.

Standing in the doorway was Sakuya. "I am sorry, Miss Marisa, but this man, and I use the term man loosely… insisted that I bring him here." She said.

"Yeah, thanks for that. While you're at it, go get this girl some real underwear. One of your thongs with do." Max said to Sakuya.

Sakuya gritted her teeth, trying real hard not to be fazed by Max's absurd request. "I have no such thing." She said calmly.

"Bull. I bet you're wearing a pair right now." Max said then turned to Marisa. "She's been hit'n on me for the past fifteen minutes. She's the one who made me wear this stupid getup." He said quietly.

"No, you bloody pig. I was ordered by Lady Remilia to provide you with that set of clothes." Sakuya said.

"Uh, speaking of Remilia…" Marisa said to change the subject. "Where is she?"

"Milady sleeps as we speak." Sakuya answered.

"Yeah. The maid said she's out like a light so now's a good time as any to go and get that book." Max said.

Marisa blinked a few times. "Huh? What's it matter if Remilia is asleep or not?" She asked.

"She needs to sleep. That's why." Max said.

"Eh? Well so do I, ze. What's so special about her?" Marisa said in a bit of a whine.

"You slept enough. Now get your shit on so we can get out'a here." Max ordered.

Marisa huffed. "What's this favoritism I'm sensing? Remilia gets to sleep, but I can't?" She said.

"You weren't the one who went toe to toe with an insanely powerful alien deity now were you?" Max said as he glared at Marisa.

"Yeah, but-"

"I have to agree with this person." Sakuya broke in. "Milady is in dire need of rest. I'm only assisting this person because we agree on that main point."

Marisa sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I guess you're right…" She said.

Max walked around the room, picking up Marisa's clothes and throwing them to her. "While our little wannabe-Outer God fighter sleeps, we'll see why dickhead down there wants that book." He said.

Marisa clumsily caught her clothes as they were thrown to her. "Alright, big guy, I'll take ya, ze. Could have used a couple more hours of sleep though, y'know…" She complained slightly.

Max ripped Marisa's blankets off her, getting another glimps of her bloomers. "You could seriously start wearing real underwear too." He said.

Marisa blushed. "Geh-Get out and wait!" She shouted.

Max and Sakuya waited outside the bedroom for Marisa to change into her clothes. After she finished dressing, they all made their way to the main entrance of the mansion. On the way there, they ran into Meiling who had just entered the mansion.

"Miss Sakuya!" Meiling called out as she ran up to the group.

"Meiling, you know now is not a good time to leave your post." Sakuya said while giving Meiling a look of disapproval.

What Sakuya said didn't make it to Meiling's ears. She had stopped to glare at Max the second she noticed his presence, a clear upset expression on her face as she stood in a defensive pose.

Max glared back at the upset Gate Guard. "The fuck ya look'n at?" He said rudely.

Meiling continued to glare at Max for a moment. Confused, Marisa and Sakuya looked at each other, not knowing what the Gate Guard was about to do.

Meiling did nothing and remained where she stood. "I'm glad you're alive, Max. Now you have the chance to apologize to Miss Sakuya." She said assertively.

Max raised a high eyebrow. "Huh? For What?" He asked.

A second after he spoke, he remembered something. His confused expression vanished when he formed a dark grin. He turned to look at Sakuya then back to Meiling.

"Oh, that's right…" He said as he walked up to Meiling, his chin held up high in full arrogance. He stopped once his chest pushed up against her's. "I slapped you two girls around that courtyard out there once upon a time, didn't I?" He said mockingly, curling a lock of Meiling's hair around his pointer finger. "Heh… Can't believe I let that slip my mind."

Now Sakuya was staring dagger eyes at his back while Meiling stood her ground, glaring up at the slightly taller man.

"You defeated us, yes. But you lost to our mistress. Remember that." Meiling said. "I am grateful for the sacrifice you made back then and for helping Lady Remilia, but you still need to apologize to Sakuya for hurting her the way you did."

Meiling didn't hate the man, just disliked him. She disliked him for one reason and one reason only: he drove her precious friend into a fit of madness with the eldritch powers he once wielded. She saw his revival as an opportunity for him to apologize to Sakuya, and she would make sure he would, somehow. Until then, she would force herself to be apathetic towards him instead of being friendly with him like she wanted to be. He did save her mistress after all, but even that wasn't enough for her to forget the misdeed he committed towards Sakuya.

Max looked deep into the youkai eyes before scoffing at Meiling. "I ain't apologizing for that. But…" He smirked as he placed his hands gently on either side of her waist. "You could easily convince me to." He said.

Sakuya pulled out a knife and got ready to throw. Marisa spotted the threat and quickly ran to Max.

"Hold it!" Marisa exclaimed as she grabbed Max and pulled him away. "You go wait outside before you get yourself killed, da ze." She said as she pushed Max towards the doors.

"Alright alright. Don't care to hang around a bunch of sore losers anyways." Max said then walked out the doors with his hands in his pockets into the cold outside.

Once the doors closed, Marisa sighed in relief and turned to Sakuya and Meiling. "Look… Don't let what he says bother ya, ze. He's just mad about his soul being stuck in that medallion. He's just cranky, that's all…" She said as she tried to apologize for Max. "I'm… I'ma just go take him to Alice's."

Sakuya's angry expression disappeared as she faced Marisa. "You do not want me to come with you?" She asked curiously.

"Nah. Alice won't show us what's in that book of hers if there's too many people hanging around. Gonna try to do this without a fight." Marisa said.

"And you expect to accomplish that with that man with you how exactly?" Sakuya asked.

Marisa let out a drawn out sigh. "I… I donno… I'll figure something out, ze." She said.

Sakuya nodded. "Good luck." She said.

Meiling let out a sigh, disappointed with Max's refusal to apologize. She put on a smile regardless. "Yes, good luck. Do your best in protecting him from the puppeteer. He may be mean spirited, but he's a good person at heart. For some reason he just doesn't want to show it." She said.

Sakuya suddenly vanished, reappearing after only a few seconds with a broom in her hand. "You may borrow this for the time being." She said as she handed the broom to Marisa.

"Thanks." Marisa said cheerfully. "Well, I'm off." She said with a two finger salute. Sakuya and Meiling waved her off as she exited the mansion.

Once she stepped outside, she spotted Max standing down at the gate, shivering a little from the occasional cold wind. She ran down the stone path to Max, placing her hand on his shoulder once she got to him.

"Let's go, Mister Grumpy." She said.

"About time." Max said as he shrugged Marisa's hand off.

"You're so impatient, ze." Marisa said as she got on her broom. She patted the handle behind her. "Have a seat. I'll get us to Alice's in no time."

Max stood where he was, staring at Marisa with untrusting eyes.

She tilted her head, looking confused. "Hm? What's the matter?" She asked.

"I ain't get'n on that thing. I remember the last time I rode a broom with you." Max said.

Marisa had to think for a moment to remember what he was talking about. She chuckled once she remembered. "Oh, that. Don't worry. I won't fly fast like that. It's too cold for that kind of speed." She assured.

"Let me make this clear." Max said sternly. "I cannot fly like you broads can anymore. Got it?"

"Got it!" Marisa said cheerfully. "Now sit down so we can get a move on."

Max hesitated for a moment before taking a seat behind Marisa. As he positioned himself into a comfortable position, he wrapped his arms around Marisa's waist and held onto her tightly.

Marisa blushed. "Um… We good to go?" She asked.

"Uh… Yeah… Yeah, I think so." Max said nervously.

"Then up we go!" Marisa declared.

The broom quickly rose into the air, causing Max to squeeze Marisa tighter.

"N-Not so tight." She said as her blush grew.

"Remember… I. Cannot. Fly. So don't go too fast. We green?" Max said, his face buried into Marisa's back as to not accidently look down.

"Super green, da ze." Marisa replied.

The broom stopped rising once they got to Marisa's desired height. She looked off into the distance as she tightly gripped the broom's handle. She tilted her hat forward, leaving only her toothy grin to be seen.

* * *

After a speedy travel through the winter sky, Marisa and Max slowly descended down into the forest below them. As they touched down on the forest floor, Marisa was cringing in pain. Max, with his face still pressed up against her back but with an angry scowl still seen, gripped both of her breasts. His fingers dug into them as he tightly squeezed.

Max breathed heavily as his face glowed an angry red. "What… did I say… about flying too fast, hm?" He said strenuously.

The cringing Marisa slowly reached up to one of Max's hands and tugged at a finger. "I'm… I'm sorry. Really… It… It was just a joke. Come on, you can take a joke. Right, da ze?" She said with a forced chuckle.

Max let go of Marisa's chest then got off the broom. She let out a big sigh of relief upon release as he glared at her angrily.

Marisa massaged her sore boobs as she hopped off her broom. "Y'know… No one's gonna like ya if you keep being a big 'o grump." She said.

"I don't need anyone to like me." Max stated.

With a sigh, Marisa placed her fists on her hips and frowned at Max. "Of course you do. I like ya because I like everyone, grumpy or not. Plus the fact that I know you can be a nice guy if you would just try." She said.

Max rolled his eyes then glared at Marisa. "Look… I'm not here to make friends, alright? I'm just give'n Remilia a little help in return for pull'n my ass out'a the fire back then. That's it. End of story." He said as calmly as he could force himself to.

"Friends can help ya. Let ME help ya, da ze!" Marisa said as she placed her hands on Max's shoulders. "I told ya before to stop thinking about things that upset ya and just focus on something that ya like and smile. I know it ain't easy, but ya can do it, ze!" She said with a cheerful smile.

Max took a quick moment to think about Marisa's words. After a few seconds, a slyly smirk appeared on his face. "So ya want me to smile, eh?" He asked.

"Yup yup!" Marisa exclaimed as she patted a shoulder of Max's.

"Then there's someth'n you can do for me that'll put a smile on my face real quick." He said.

"Name it!" Marisa said excitedly.

Max said nothing and merely pointed at his crotch while looking at Marisa suggestively.

Marisa looked puzzled for a second. She glanced down at Max's groin only for her gaze to quickly return to his face once she got the hint. Now blushing, she quickly pushed him away from her.

"Gross!" She exclaimed, unable to keep from giggling a little.

Max let out a hardy laugh. "Come on, now. Don't act so innocent. You seem like a girl who gets around." He said with a grin on his face.

"Hey hey hey." Marisa said quickly as she placed a finger over Max's lips to silence him. "You may not mean harm by saying things like that, but you can't say such things to a girl out of the blue. Nor can you grab them like you have been." She said with a blushing smile.

"Heh heh, sorry. I have a… habit of just saying or doing the first thing that comes to mind." Max said while actually looking a little embarrassed.

"Well, be careful with that, ze. Grab the wrong girl or say the wrong thing and you could end up with your skin stretched over a rock or something." Marisa warned kindly.

"I'll keep that in mind." Max lied.

"Good! Now let's get going to Alice's. And, um… Max." Marisa said as she closed the distance between the two of them.

"Sup?"

"If you value your assets down there… Don't talk when we get there, okay?"

"Bah! Nonsense! Bitch'll be glad to see me. Just you watch." Max said confidently.

And Marisa could only do a face-palm in reaction. "Just… Just let me do the talking…"

After a brief walk through the forest, Max and Marisa came to a house in a small open field. Above the field was a small break in the forest roof, allowing for the small snow flurries to drift down and put a small coating of glitter on the field as well as the house.

"Finally…" Max said in relief then made his way towards the house, only to have his arm grabbed by Marisa.

"Hold it." Marisa said.

Max let out a short sigh of annoyance. "What now?"

"Please just listen." Marisa said. "Wait behind a tree or something while I break the news to Alice. If she opens that door to find a guy that she thinks is dead then she's liable to freak out and make you dead again."

Max gave Marisa a dumb look. "Look, Sabrina…"

A dumbfounded expression appeared on Marisa's face. "Sabrina?"

"I'm thankful for your concern, but I think I can handle the girl who still plays with dolls."

"Killer dolls." Marisa tried to remind Max.

"I handled her before. I can handle her again." Max said then headed for the front door of the house.

"But you don't have…" Marisa watched helplessly as Max strolled up to the house without a care in the world. "Oh… Shit…" She said worriedly before sprinting off after Max. "At least let me answer the-"

Max immediately started banging on the door with his fist once he reached the door. "Bitch, get out here! We need a book of yours!" He yelled.

"Aw, shit…" Marisa face-palmed.

"Seriously, get off whoever's dick your on and get out here! We don't got time to fuck around!" Max shouted as he continued to roughly pound on the door.

"Aw, shit!" Marisa repeated in despair.

"For Pete's sake…" Max mumbled then grabbed the doorknob and jiggled it. "I'm coming inside!" He shouted. He glanced over his shoulder at Marisa. "Heh… How many times do you think she hears that in a single day?"

Marisa stood with her jaw hanging, utterly speechless at this point. She knew after all the obscenities Max blurted out that she wouldn't be able to save him from Alice's wrath. He would not die a second time fighting bravely against some abominable horror, but by the hands of a very angry female magician. A bit fitting for him, she thought.

After struggling with the doorknob, Max said, "Ah, to hell with it." And with one good strong kick, he knocked the door off its hinges and sent it to the floor with a loud thud. He winked at the gawking Marisa before barging into the house. "Honey, I'm home!" He announced loudly.

Marisa took a glance at the broken hinges, looking rather impressed. She then entered the house cautiously. "Alice! So sorry for the intrusion! Very sorry!" She called out.

Max and Marisa looked about the empty room. The small room looked ordinary with only a shelf meant for one's shoes placed up against the wall. They entered the next room that contained a table and what appeared to be some kind of old chemistry set.

Marisa let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. She's not even here." She said while silently thanking whatever gods that were watching over them.

"Probably upstairs." Max said when he found a set of narrow stairs leading to the second floor. He grinned mischievously. "I bet if we're all quiet like, we'll be able to catch her being pounded from behind by whatever dirtbag she's screw'n." He said then slowly made his way up the stairs.

"Nn… No. She doesn't have anyone like that. Trust me. I try to get her to… y'know… get out a little, ze." Marisa said as she followed Max to the second floor of the house.

"She probably sleeps around without tell'n ya. Innocent doll girl by day. Whore by night. That kind of thing." He said plainly as he opened a door to what was a bedroom then walked in without a second thought.

"Now wait just a minute! You can't just storm into a girl's room like that!" Marisa said as she too entered the room, her eyes immediately scouting for books.

Max started opening drawers of the desk in the bedroom. Upon opening the bottom drawer, he found a book with a hard cover and a strap around it with what looked like a lock. He pulled it out then showed it to Marisa.

"Is this it?" He asked.

Marisa was going through a small stack of books that were left on the bed. She gave a quick look in them one by one. Once she found none to be interesting at first glance, she tossed them back on the bed then turned to Max, spotting the book in his hand.

She nodded. "Yup. But simply having it doesn't help."

"What ya mean?"

"The only one that can open it is Alice."

Max let out a disgruntled sigh as he tossed the grimoire onto the desk. He sat himself on the side of the bed and slouched.

Marisa sat next to Max then tossed an arm over his shoulder. "Ah, don't look so bummed out, buddy. I'm sure she'll be back soon so let's just go outside and wait for her." She said.

"Out in the cold? Nah… Spent enough time freezing in this damn medallion. Think I'll relax in here where it's warm. You can if ya want." Max said.

Marisa looked at Max's chest, seeing where the shape of the Yellow Sign Medallion bled through his shirt from underneath. "It was cold in there?" She asked.

"Yup."

"How cold? Like winter cold?"

"Heh… Far from it." Max said then looked at Marisa's curious face. "You know how cold it is in the voids of the universe where the light from stars don't reach?"

"Nope." Marisa answered with the shake of her head.

"Neither do I, but I got a pretty good idea now…" Max said glumly.

Marisa wasn't sure what else to say as they sat on the bed, waiting for the owner of the house to return in silence. Only the words to a question she had floated in her mind, a question she didn't want answered, a question that begged to be answered. The silence quickly began to irritate her, so she decided to ask away.

"Hey, Max." Marisa said.

"Hm?"

"I think you being alive is cool and all, but…" Marisa said as she clenched at her dress, too scared to go further with her thought.

Max nudged her with his shoulder. "But what?"

With her heart rate rising, Marisa took a deep breath then exhaled slowly before continuing on with her thought. "Is the alien spirit thing that was sleeping in you out there?" She asked forcefully, with another image of a figure in tattered rags flashing in her mind, bringing with it a sudden stab of pain in her head.

"Oh him…" Max said as he sat up straight and stretched. "He ain't. He's still lost in time and space." He said with a plain expression.

Marisa let out a sigh of relief, her heart rate slowing back down to normal levels. A big load had been taken off her shoulders.

"You don't need to worry about him. He ain't get'n back here anytime soon." Max said. "Just know that there are worse Outer Gods out there than him."

A grave expression sprung up on Marisa's face. "S-Seriously?!" She croaked.

"I'm just giving you a heads up. With the shit that's been going on I'm willing to bet things are going to get much worse before they get better."

Marisa swallowed her fear and brought out a smile. "And we'll win in the end just like last time, right, da ze?" She asked as she playfully shook Max by the shoulders, but he did not return her smile or react to the shaking, causing her genuine smile to turn into a sad one.

"Don't worry about it. Do what you told me to do and think about something else. That's what I'm trying to do right now." Max said.

Marisa's smile brightened back up. "Really? What ya thinking about then?" She asked, looking eager to know.

Max grinned at her. She looked puzzled for a moment until she became surprised when Max suddenly pushed her down into the bed.

"Wh-Wh-What the?!" Marisa exclaimed. She went red faced when Max positioned himself over top of her, his lips curled into a sly grin as he gazed down at her. "Oookaaay… Uh…"

"Since the bitch is taking her sweet time getting back home… Why don't we fool around in her bed while we wait? Y'know… Clear our heads of any Horrors and what not." Max said as he scanned up and down Marisa's body, a little disappointed that he couldn't see much of her curves through the baggy clothe she wore.

With a face flashing red, Marisa slowly grew flustered. "Ho-Ho-Hold on a minute, stud!" She said as she pushed Max away from her, creating some breathing room for herself. "I-I like you and all as a friend, but this is a teensy bit too sudden, even for me."

"We're about to become friends with benefits so relax." Max said as he grabbed Marisa's hands and pushed them down to her sides.

Marisa tried to push back, but he was physically stronger than her. "How can I relax when being held down like this, ze?!" She said as she struggled.

Max chuckled. "Well, do you want to start it off then?"

Marisa's own grin formed. "Yeah, sure. I wanna give you a little someth'n…"

"Really?" Max said, surprised.

"Yeah. I call it a flying star!" Marisa called out. With a well-aimed shot, she brought her knee into Max's groin, striking him right in the family jewels.

Max's eyes nearly popped out of his skull from the impact. His hands went to where the pain was, and he fell forward on top of Marisa as his strength left him. His face went into her chest, and then a loud and muffled groan of pain followed.

"I was just play'n around… Payback for doing a loop de loop on your broom on the way here…" He moaned miserably.

Marisa instantly felt guilty as she stared at the man in pain. She patted him on the head to try and comfort him. "Uh… Oops… I didn't mean to knee you that hard… Guess I don't know my own strength, da ze." She said then forced a chuckle.

Marisa smiled at Max, still a bit red in the face from him lying on top of her, but otherwise calm. Suddenly, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked towards the door, her happy expression instantly turning into one of terror when she spotted several objects floating in the air.

"Alice's dolls…" Marisa gasped.

Several dolls with blond hair of different lengths floated in the air, each holding a melee weapon ranging from swords, hammers, and spears. And each one was pointed and aimed directly at Marisa's head.

"Aw, shit!" Marisa cried out in panic.

With most of the pain in his crotch gone, Max raised his head a little to see what Marisa was looking at. "Huh? What ya freak'n out for?" He asked.

Marisa quickly pushed his face back into her breasts and held onto him tightly. "Don't move. You move, we die." She whispered fearfully.

"You're the boss…" Max said in a muffled voice.

The sound of stomping was heard as someone raced up the stairs. Marisa held onto Max tightly as she tried to quickly formulate a plan to escape from the armed dolls, but it was too late.

Meanwhile, Max felt as if he could fall asleep and made an honest effort to.

"Alright, intruders, prepare yourself!" The owner of the house, Alice Margatroid was heard shouting as she stormed up the stairs. She then appeared in the doorway, madder than all hell and with three glowing spell cards in her right hand. "I will show you no mercy for breaking into… my…" Her angry expression slowly vanished once she recognized Marisa. "Ma… Marisa?" She said softly, looking awfully confused now.

Marisa chuckled nervously. "Hi, Alice…" She greeted with a slow wave.

"Marisa… Why are you here… in my bed… with a man…" Alice said as her face grew dark and intimidating.

"Well, we weren't about to fuck, unfortunately." Max said bluntly.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Marisa shouted then punched Max in the head, forcing a grunt from him.

Alice gripped the spell cards in her trembling fist. Though clearly infuriated, she did a rather good job at not showing it in her expression. She breathed deeply a few times then calmly spoke.

"So… Marisa… Who is the gentleman accompanying you in MY bed?" She asked.

Max tried to lift his face to reveal himself, but Marisa desperately kept his face buried in her chest. She grabbed the blankets and threw them over them in a poor attempt to hide the squirming man.

"Okay, seriously, I can't breathe!" Max's muffled voice was heard.

Marisa then looked at Alice as innocently as she could. "Hm? What man? I see no man." She played dumb.

Alice sneered from being taken for some kind of idiot. She reached out for the blankets and tore them off. "This man, Marisa. Why are you sleeping with a man in MY bed?!" She demanded an answer.

"Oh… Him…" Marisa said, giving up the innocent act.

Alice struggled to remain calm as her anger tried to burst out in the form of danmaku. "Marisa… Dear Marisa… I really do not care if you wish to engage in such activities with a man, but do try to do such things in the privacy of your own home, would you please?" She said.

With sweat rolling down her face, Marisa slowly nodded. "Yeah… Sure… I'll do that… Real sorry…" She said as she slowly tried to crawl out of the bed while trying to hide Max's face with her chest.

"You better had planned to use protection of sorts if you were going to engage in sex!" Alice shouted, scaring Marisa in place.

"I was just gonna pull out, so no worries there." Max said then earned a hard elbow to the back of the head from an angry and flustered Marisa. "Arhg! That one hurt!"

Alice appeared disgusted with what came out of Max's mouth. "Just who is he anyways? He's dressed in something I'd expect to see at the vampire's mansion." She said. She reached out to force Max to show his face to her. "Show yourself, boy." She ordered.

And Max complied. He tore himself from Marisa's grip and brought his face up close to Alice's, grinning ear to ear. "Sup, doll face. Remember me?" He asked.

Alice paled up as horror and disbelief consumed her expression. "Ma… Ma… Ma…" Her lips moved, but the reemerged memories of past nightmares kept her from speaking correctly.

"Max." Marisa helped her along.

"Max…" Alice repeated.

Max grabbed Alice by the front of her shirt. "That's right, bitch. I'm back and I've come for your lips." He pulled her to him, forcing her lips upon his, her eyes shooting wide open in shock. Once he laid down a short, but strong kiss, he pushed the immensely perplexed girl back, grinning slyly at her. "And I ain't talk'n about those ones." He said smugly.

Alice gawked in utter shock for a few moments before the hatred returned. She bit down on her teeth, grinding them together as she fumed. "You! You weren't content with being in my nightmares that you had to return?! I will not let that nightmare happen again! This time, I will kill you before the Horrors can reappear!" She declared out loud.

Max crossed his arms in front of him and let out a bellowing laugh. "Bitch, please. I had you piss'n yourself the second you saw the Yellow Sign Medallion. Even without the Unspeakable One's powers, I'll still throw you over my lap and spank ya like the uptight little bitch you-"

Before he could finish, Alice landed a well-placed punch to the center of his chest. The force of the punch sent him flying towards the bedroom window, crashing through it in a hail of glass shards and out into the outside. A loud thud was heard seconds later.

"Aw, shit!" Marisa exclaimed as she jumped up and rushed to prevent Alice from making good on her word. "Chill out, Alice. Just chill, okay?" She said calmly.

"I don't care to know why that thing lives, but I'll make sure he can't attract any more of those nightmares." Alice said with a determined expression.

"That's the thing, Alice. He doesn't have those freaky powers so there's no reason to get all crazy, ze." Marisa said. "Just calm down and let me explain-"

"He nearly destroyed our world, Marisa! Don't tell me you have forgotten?!" Alice yelled.

"Aw, you can't blame him for that. He didn't know that bastard was sleeping inside him and he got rid of him and that other alien god in the end so it's all good, right? We can all be friends now so please settle down." Marisa said with a calm smile.

Alice tightened her fists. "It was his fault to begin with. I told you and that vampire that his presence would only bring disaster and that's exactly what happened. I cannot risk letting the same Horror's return a second time." She said.

"Um…" Marisa nervously scratched at her cheek. "And that's the other thing… You see… We kinda have another Horror problem…"

Alice paled up. "Don't…. Don't joke about something like that, Marisa." She said.

"It's the truth. And Max wasn't even around when they appeared."

Alice took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. "Alright, Marisa… Explain quickly."

"Will do, but let me go make sure you didn't kill Max with that hit." Marisa said.

Alice clicked her teeth. "I can only be so lucky…" She said sourly.

Once Marisa got the aching Max inside, she quickly got to explaining the reason for their visit to Alice. As she explained, Alice's dolls diligently worked on repairing both the front door and the bedroom window.

Max and Marisa sat on the couch in Alice's living room as they waited for Alice to return with some tea. Alice thought she could use a drink of tea after she was told of all that had happened at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. After a few moments, she entered the living room with a tray with two cups of tea placed upon it. She sat the tray down on the coffee table in front of Max and Marisa. She handed one cup of tea to Marisa, who happily took it, while taking the other cup for herself before taking a seat on a chair.

"What? None for me?" Max scowled at Alice.

"Just be happy you're not hanging from a tree." Alice said before dismissing Max completely and taking a sip of her tea.

Marisa took a drink of her tea, an expression of satisfaction appearing on her face afterwards. "Thank you, Alice. It's as good as ever, da ze." She said cheerfully.

"I'm glad to hear that, but…" Alice sat her tea down before focusing her eyes on Marisa. "What you told me of Patchouli is disturbing. Very disturbing. The fact you have come here to see my grimoire is even more disturbing. I don't know what the thing controlling Patchouli would want with it." She said.

"That's what we're here to find out." Marisa said.

"Yeah, so go get that book of yours and let me have a look at it." Max said.

"This could be some kind of trick for all we know." Alice said, completely ignoring Max.

"Come on, Alice. Patchouli is in serious danger here. Just let Max skim through it. He finds something? He finds something. He doesn't? He doesn't." Marisa said.

Alice sat quietly and thought to herself. She was dead set on never letting anyone look in her grimoire, no matter the reason, but now that she was being told that a fellow magician was being controlled by an otherworldly being and that it wanted her grimoire, she was forced to reconsider that position. She tried to think of any possible reason why it could possibly want her book herself, but she couldn't come up with anything. She didn't know what the despicable man named Max could possible find in it that she wasn't already aware of. Surely letting an idiot like him look at it wouldn't be a problem. What was in it was far from comprehendible for him.

With a small sigh, Alice came to an uneasy decision. "I'll be right back." She stood up and headed upstairs.

Marisa formed a bright and excited smile. She turned to Max and nudged him on the shoulder. "Boy, you're so lucky! I've tried so many times to get her to let me take a peek in that book." She said.

"Lucky me…" Max mumbled.

Alice returned with her grimoire in hand. She placed the book in front of Max then shooed Marisa off the couch so she may sit down.

"Would it kill ya if I just glanced at it?" Marisa pouted as she got off the couch.

"Stand over there somewhere, Marisa." Alice ordered, and Marisa walked off grumbling to herself.

"Alrighty then. Open this shit up so I can go home already." Max said.

"I'm only showing you my grimoire because you're not someone who could possibly understand what's in it." Alice said bitterly.

With the simple wave of her hand over the grimoire, the lock glowed a light blue for a second then unlocked. She opened the book and presented it to Max. The second he leaned over to look at the pages, she placed her hand on the back of his head then smashed his face into the book.

"Gah! Fucking duck!" Max cried out as he covered his injured nose.

"Alice!" Marisa shouted her disapproval.

Alice huffed. "That was for breaking into my home and for touching me with your disgusting lips."

With a red nose, Max glared at Alice. "Me and you…" He said.

"Just take a look then kindly leave my home." Alice said, ignoring his angry glare.

Max quickly flipped through the pages, taking short glances at each page, not understanding a single word or symbol he saw. Only half a minute in and he already got to the center of the book.

"The fuck is all this?" He asked as he continued to skim through the book.

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Years of work and countless hours of study. Things someone like you wouldn't understand." She said curtly.

"Just a dumb girl's diary it looks like." Max said.

He flipped the pages one after another then finally came to the end. Nothing really out of the ordinary stood out that would give him a hint on why the Horror of Voile wanted it. Now that he thought about it, the thing may not even have any particular reason for it other than just to have it. There was no way of guessing what goes on in the mind of a Horror.

Max closed the book then sighed. "I donno. " He said, thought again, the repeated himself. "I donno. Damn thing might just want it for something to burn. I don't frik'n know." He held the book up and examined it.

"If you can't find anything then please leave." Alice said urgently.

Max shook the book around a little. A folded up piece of paper fell out from within the book and onto the table.

Max picked up the paper. "What's this?"

"Probably just a note of mine, now please give it back along with my book. You have overstayed your welcome and I can't waste any more time with you while another one of those things controls my colleague." Alice said sternly.

Max ignored Alice's demand and unfolded the piece of paper. A disturbed expression suddenly took place on his face as he glanced at the paper. Sweat drops were popping up on his face as he stared at the odd symbols written on the pages.

Marisa took notice of Max's suddenly sweaty face. "Hey, Max… You okay?" She asked worriedly.

"What is it?" Alice asked when she too took notice of Max's grave expression.

"Holy fucking shit balls…" Max said in a slight gasp. "This ain't some random paper with doodles… Where did you get this?"

Alice was uncertain what he was talking about and glanced over at the paper. She paled a little when she recognized the note.

"Oh… I found that some time ago and tried to decipher the strange language that's written on it. During that brief time I came upon some rather… disturbing literature. It is how I learned the existence of some old gods." She shuddered at the memories, at the depraved things she found in books she stupidly decided to read. "It was how I learned what the Yellow Sign was and whom it belonged to."

"Snoop'n through shit you shouldn't been snoop'n in. Like a dumb blond say do." Max said mockingly.

Alice stood up. "How could I possibly have known that a stupid piece of paper would have led me to knowledge of those things?!" She shouted her defense. "I tried burning it, but it has some kind of anti-desecration enchantment on it so I just kept it in my grimoire for safe keeping."

"You're still and idiot." Max said, earning an angry growl from Alice who tried to control her temper.

He ran his fingers down the length of the paper. An eerie tingly sensation ran up through his fingers, up his arms and to his spine. His entire body shook as if from a sudden cold wind.

"So… What's so special about a little piece of paper, huh?" Marisa asked fearfully.

Max sat back on the couch, his eyes latched on the page of endless eldritch symbols and letters before him. Letters he could read, but for the most part, not understand. Symbols he could make out, but at the cost of a burning feeling in his brain.

"This ain't just some piece of paper…" He said. "This page… I think it's a missing page from the…"

Marisa and Alice looked at each other in worried confusion when Max went silent before looking back at him.

"From the what?" Marisa asked.

"Yes. Continue." Alice said.

Max got to his feet and folded up the paper. "I could go on forever about it. Just know this single page has a lot of nasty shit in it." He said before stuffing the page into his pants pocket. He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "I think it's safe to say the Horror wants this."

"Well then, it looks like we just need to keep it from getting that page. Sounds easy enough." Marisa said confidently.

"No, you idiot. This page alone ain't the problem…" Max said with a sigh.

"Then what is the problem? Don't just remain silent about it. Tell us." Alice urged.

Max thought nervously to himself with many thoughts racing in his head and not a single one good.

He looked to Marisa. "Let's get back to the mansion." He said as he headed for the door.

"What we gonna do once we get back?" Marisa asked as she grabbed her broom.

Max stopped at the doorway and looked back at Marisa. "We'll gonna rip that bastard a few new ones." He said then walked out the door.

Marisa grinned in excitement. "That'a boy! That's exactly what I wanna hear!" She said then quickly followed Max.

Alice grabbed her grimoire. "Wait for me, Marisa! That fool might get you killed!" She yelled then chased after Max and Marisa.


	18. Chapter 18 Forward to Depravity

Meiling stood at her post in the cold outside, gazing up at the cloudy sky and enjoying its beauty. Every now and then she would take a deep breath of air through her nose, smelling the winter cent. The occasional cold wind wasn't enough to make her shiver. In fact, she enjoyed it. The only thing that could have made the day better for her would be the fact that Miss Patchouli wasn't under the control of an alien monster. That or a surprise visit from Sakuya with some snacks. That would be nice too.

Meiling tensed up when she felt three fast approaching life forces. She got into her fighting stance, prepared for any kind of trouble. She looked up and the three life forces turned out to be Max, Marisa, and Alice who appeared flying from over the forest.

Meiling waved excitedly at them. "Helloooooo! That was quick!" She shouted.

Max was off of Marisa's broom before she had even landed, landing on both feet and sprinting off towards the mansion. Marisa and Alice rushed to keep up with him.

Meiling arched an eyebrow. "What's the hurry, guys?" She asked as she quickly opened the gate for the sprinting man. "Youch!" She jumped up in surprise after taking a hard slap on the behind from Max when he ran by her.

"Come on, toots! We're gonna need ya!" Max shouted over his shoulder.

"Yeah, China, let's go! Shit's about to get real, da ze!" Marisa shouted excitedly as she ran by.

Alice trailed right behind Marisa. "This is not a game, Marisa! Please take this incident more seriously!" She said.

Meiling stood confused for a moment, rubbing her sore behind as she watched the three run towards the mansion's front doors. Then she started to shake in excitement. Deep down, her pride had been hurting since the alien disease that she had caught and she was eager to do her master justice by helping to kill an alien horror. Now was her chance and she was determined not to miss it.

"Wait for me! My fists are ready!" She shouted then took off after the group.

Max shoved the front doors open with force, entering the mansion with Marisa, Alice and Meiling behind him. The working fairy maids were startled from the sudden intrusion, with all shrieking in unison. Upon hearing the frightened fairies, Sakuya, along with Koakuma, appeared then ran to the group, both eager to know what information they had found.

"Did you find out anything useful?" Sakuya asked the approaching Marisa and Alice.

"Please say you did. Standing up here while Lady Patchouli is at the mercy of that thing is driving me crazy." Koakuma said urgently.

"No time to talk." Max said as he continued to sprint down the hall, never slowing down and forcing Sakuya and Koakuma to jump to the side or be plowed over.

"Just follow the one with the Y chromosome!" Marisa exclaimed as she sprinted by.

"We're not thinking about running in there without a plan are we?" Alice asked worriedly as she struggled to keep up with Marisa.

"I'm so excited!" Meiling declared as she quickly passed by.

"We'll figure someth'n out when we get there!" Max shouted back at Alice then made a right down the next hallway.

Marisa took the left hallway. "The library is this way, Max!" She shouted.

"I knew that!" Max yelled, abruptly changed his direction and followed after Marisa.

Sakuya and Koakuma watched the group run off towards Voile in confusion. They looked at one another, shrugged their shoulders then sprinted off after them.

The group of five girls and a man stormed the library's entrance. The eerie green fog remained, but appeared to be denser than before. A faint, but foul stench was present in the air as well. The entire group either covered their nose or pinched it to avoid the smell.

"Say excuse me, you disgusting fool!" Alice demanded.

"It wasn't me, ya dumb blond." Max spat.

"This fog is getting worse." Koakuma said, worried about the failing state of the library under the influence of the Horror.

The group hastily made their way to the center of the library. Once they got there, they found the possessed Patchouli sitting with a book in her hand and silently reading to herself. She remained oblivious to the group's arrival until Max let out a sharp whistle. She looked towards the group with her glowing green eyes, forcing a shiver from all of them. When she spotted Alice, she smiled happily and sat her book down.

"Ah, Alice!" She exclaimed as she stood up then ran up to Alice.

Alice felt disgusted with the way the Horror distorted Patchouli's voice. Even the green eyes creeped her out. "Goodness… At least it hasn't harmed her frail body. That's a welcome relief." Alice said.

"Hello, Alice. Hel… Hello, Alice." The possessed girl said, weirdly tilting her head from side to side.

Alice looked at the others and they looked back with nothing to say. She sighed as she decided to humor the Horror. "Hello, Patchouli. I hear you wish to see my grimoire. Is that correct?" She said.

Patchouli nodded cheerfully. "Yes. Yes I would, Alice. Please… Please let me see it. I would very much… very much like… to see it." She said then held out her hand and waited patiently for Alice to hand her the grimoire.

Alice held her book close to her chest, determined not to let some eldritch being touch it.

"Give her the damn thing." Max ordered. Alice looked at him like he was crazy.

"It'll be alright, Alice." Marisa said while giving her a confident grin and a thumbs up.

Alice thought they were both crazy, and shook her head at them. The smiling Patchouli then snatched the book from her and quickly returned to her seat.

"Hey! Give that back this instant!" Alice shouted then went to take her book back, but was stopped by Koakuma.

"Wait… Let's see what the thing does." Koakuma insisted.

The group watched in suspense as Patchouli sat down at the table. She sat Alice's grimoire down in front of her then waved her hand over it. The lock on the book glowed a sickly green. It shook violently for a moment before breaking off. The broken lock bounced off the table then to the floor.

Alice gawked from the sight, astonished at the ease her sophisticated lock was broken. "Wh-What?! How did it do that so easily?!" She exclaimed.

Marisa nodded, silently congratulating and envying the Horror for a job well done. "Damn thing could teach me a few things…" She said.

Patchouli held out her left hand and in her hand a black flame ignited. The dark flame seemed to snuff out the light around it, giving it a ghostly appearance. The flame then took on a rectangular shape before vanishing entirely, leaving behind a strange looking black book in her hand. The book was black as night, and strange shapes and symbols were littered all over its cover. More horribly was the faint existence of what looked to be stretched faces in anguish on it. The girls fearfully questioned to themselves on whether or not they could hear weeping and other sounds of torment coming from the book.

Max groaned upon recognizing the black book, not happy at all that his suspicions were true. "God damn it… That's it. That's the book…." He said woefully.

"What's up with that book, Max?" Marisa asked.

"What indeed. It's giving off a sinister aura…" Koakuma said as she took a few steps back, feeling rather sick from just being near the strange book; from just seeing it; just knowing it existed.

She wasn't alone with those feelings of sickness as both Sakuya and Meiling covered their mouths, their stomachs beginning to act up. Alice felt as if her bones were freezing while Marisa felt a burning sensation growing in her head.

"It's not a book Patchouli has ever owned. That I'm sure of." Alice said.

"It's evil… That's all it is is evil…" Meiling said as she glared at the eldritch book with a growing hatred.

"You girls have no idea…" Max said, his fists tightening at his sides.

Patchouli sat the black book down gently then started going through Alice's grimoire. As she flipped through the pages, she hummed to herself, smiling happily while she searched for something within the grimoire. But once she got to the center of the book, the smile she had started to fade. The closer to the end she got and the more upset her expression became. The second she got to the end she slammed the book shut then turned her angry gaze towards Max.

The girls quickly snapped into fighting position upon feeling the awfully menacing aura the possessed girl now gave off, but they backed down reluctantly when Max signaled them to keep calm with the wave of his hand.

Patchouli stood up and calmly approached Max. She stopped directly in front of him then held out her hand. "Give it to me." She demanded.

Max rolled his eyes. "Alright. Fine…" He said then reached into his back pocket and pulled out the folded up page. "You want it…" He placed the page in his hand, closed it into a fist and drew it back. "Then you got it, sister!" He threw his fist forward, striking Patchouli square in the face with a vicious blow and knocking her to the floor.

"Max!" The girls shouted at him, astounded at the lack of retrain he showed against their friend.

Koakuma stood in total shock from the unexpected brutal punch her master took from the man. "La-Lady Pa… Patchou… li…" She said as she started to tilt backwards.

"I got ya!" Meiling exclaimed when Koakuma fainted, catching her before she hit the floor.

Max leaped over the downed magician, darted for the black book and snatched it from the table. "You girls keep Pajamas here busy." He said.

"You get back here and apologize this instant!" Alice demanded.

"Wait, what?! Where do you think you're going?!" Marisa said, confused on rather or not she should help the injured, and still possessed, Patchouli.

With the black book in his hands, Max took off running down one of the aisles. "To find that alien mother fucker!" He shouted.

"Shit… That idiot is gonna get himself killed." Marisa said as she nervously bit at her thumb nail.

"Good." Alice said bluntly with a huff.

"Hold on, Max! Take Alice and Sakuya with you!" Marisa shouted, causing Alice and Sakuya to glare at her.

"You can't be serious." Both Alice and Sakuya said.

"Hurry up, Tits 'n Vagina! Let's go!" Max hollered from the end of the aisle then disappeared into the eerie green fog.

Alice and Sakuya were both clenching their teeth in anger. "Oh my goodness… I'm seriously going to kill that man." Alice said, struggling to keep her emotions from getting the best of her.

"There's no time to argue. Hurry before he gets lost out there." Marisa ordered. "Me and China will handle our possessed friend here."

Alice and Sakuya looked at each other, sighed in defeat then took off after Max.

"I can't believe I have to help keep that idiot alive." Alice said, grabbing her grimoire from the table.

"Alive? Yes. In one piece…?" Sakuya said as she tossed a sly grin over to Alice.

Alice returned the grin. "I like how you think, Miss Sakuya." She said.

As Max, Alice and Sakuya went off into the library in search of the hidden Cosmic Horror, Marisa and Meiling stayed behind, along with the possessed Patchouli.

"So it's finally come to this. I knew it would." Marisa tilted her hat, spat off to the side and pointed her broom at the possessed Patchouli, who was struggling to get to her feet. "I've been waiting for this moment, ze…" She said with a determined grin.

Meiling dragged the unconscious Koakuma off to the side and out of harm's way then got next to Marisa, her own grin of determination present on her face, along with that of near uncontrolled excitement. "Likewise, Miss Marisa. Likewise." She said.

With a badly bruised nose that had a stream of blood running from it, Patchouli grabbed a hold of the legs to one of the tables and pulled herself up. She was grinding her teeth as an alien fury was raging inside of her. She got to her feet then turned to face the Witch and the Gate Guard.

"You… You foolish, foolish children… None of you will escape this library alive. In the end you will have either become my servants or my food." She said.

"Ha! Escape? That's not what we're here for." Meiling said.

"That's right, bud. Give up Patchouli or we're gonna have to hurt ya." Marisa said.

Patchouli stared at Marisa and Meiling with a stern expression and a tint of aggravation. Then, to Marisa's and Meiling's surprise, she started to chuckle, a chuckle that quickly turned into a full blown outburst of laughter.

Marisa and Meiling looked at one another in confusion. Fear grabbed a hold of their hearts, but they quickly shook it off and kept a stern expression. But fear would continue to scratch at their psyche as the alien's haunting laugh threatened to drown their minds.

The laughing Horror seemed to struggle to get a hold of itself. "You… You creatures… You really are one of the most foolish beings I have ever… ever come across." Patchouli said in between her sick laughing. She finally stopped, took a deep breath and smiled.

Marisa and Meiling were sweating now and both appeared to be struggling to breath. The smile the possessed girl had was normal in appearance, but it was suffocating.

"What… What are you children trying to accomplish by… by doing this, hmm?" Patchouli asked with a heinous smirk.

Marisa fought back against the haunting eyes that stared into her with all the mental fortitude she had. "Isn't it obvious, ya freak? We're gonna thrash you around a bit while our friends look for the real you." She said.

"Mm hm…" The alien being chuckled, angering Marisa. "And would you like to know… like to know what I'll do to them… if they find me?" She asked. When she got no answer, she chuckled again before continuing speaking. "First… The young magician will be given the… the choice in serving as one of my servants. I am sure she will comply… after seeing the atrocities I will commit… upon the young maid… What will I do to the young maid you ask? Hm, well… I will take the maid and… and strip her of her beautiful skin. Very slowly and carefully, as to keep it in one piece… then… then watch as she squirms miserably on the floor like a fish out of water. Next… Next I will pull her spine from her body. I will do so slowly, as to prolong the howling scream she will pleasure me with. And finally… I will gorge upon what is left of her, listening closely to her soul as she finds her way into the pit of my stomach. Her moans of agony will be delightful for years to come." The alien being shuttered in depraved anticipation. "And as for the boy… I will eat his body piece by piece until only his head remains, keeping it alive so he may see and hear the end that he merely delayed. Oh, I cannot wait to hear his wretched screams as he curses his own foolishness for going against the will of the Outer Gods." She licked the tips of her fingers one by one.

Marisa shook out the unpleasant mental images that were poured into her mind then glared at the possessed Patchouli. "That ain't gonna happen, bub!" She said.

"That's right!" Meiling said. "You talk as if victory is already in your hands. An enemy like you is not new to us. We've beaten things like you before. You can't scare us with your mind tricks." She said sternly.

"Like me? Heh heh… Ah haha! Like MEEE?!" The alien horror said in a shriveling shriek, striking pain in the girls' ears. She coughed in her hand then returned to her calm composure. "Allow me to give you a small hint of advice… Cast away that false hope… and surrender your flesh and soul to me. Together… we shall witness the end of this world. It will be… so wonderful…" The thing said gleefully.

"Never!" Marisa and Meiling shouted.

The possessed Patchouli held a sad smile as she shook her head, seemingly showing some pity. "You poor… poor ignorant children." Her smile then turned into a nefarious grin. "With each star that vanishes in the night sky, the closer this world will come to realizing its doom. But you two will not be seeing that long awaited moment."

Patchouli slowly lifted both her hands up, showing her palms to Marisa and Meiling. And once they saw what was on her hands, fear broke through their mental defenses. A gasp of horror escaped their lips as their legs forced them to take a step back from the possessed magician. On Patchouli's hands appeared two snarling mouths filled with rows of shark-like teeth that dripped with a horrid yellow ichor.

"You two are not worthy enough to see that end, but your flesh will make a good appetizer before the main dish." She said cruelly.

"Then fight for your meal, monster!" Meiling shouted then took off towards Patchouli. "Forgive me for this, Miss Patchouli!"

Both of her fists burned a light blue flame of spirit energy as she quickly closed the distant between her and the possessed magician. She struggled to force herself not to hold back, praying Patchouli would forgive her for the harm she was about to inflict on her fragile body. She cursed the alien monster for forcing her to do something she never thought she would have to do.

Once the distance was closed, Meiling flung a right hook, her fist leaving a trail of sparkling blue fire. She shut her eyes, unable to watch her very own fist trike her fragile friend, but her eyes quickly flew open when a hand snatched her wrist, stopping her attack. She opened her eyes to find the possessed Patchouli holding onto her wrist with one hand and without any visible indication that she had put any effort into stopping her punch. The only thing visible was the thing's depraved grin.

"Not very wise of you… young… Mei… ling…" The thing said.

The possessed Patchouli reached out with her free hand and grabbed Meiling's left side, allowing the mouth hand to sink its teeth into her flesh.

Meiling let out a shriek of pain as a chunk was ripped out from her side. She struck Patchouli in the stomach with a kick, forcing her to release her. She then jumped back to Marisa's side, her hand on her badly bleeding wound.

"Wow… She really took a bite out of ya. You gonna be alright, China girl?" Marisa asked as she looked at Meiling's flesh wound with worry and an uneasy stomach.

Meiling was moaning from the burning pain in her side. "I'll… I'll be okay, Miss Marisa. It's not as bad as it looks. It'll heal in no time." She said then gave Marisa a thumbs up for assurance.

Marisa wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? It… It doesn't look like a normal wound…"

Meiling's side looked as if a shark had ripped into her. A bloody rib could be seen, but it wasn't how deep the wound was that troubled Marisa. It was the yellow ichor that was mixed in with the blood. It seemed to boil and burn.

The flesh taken from Meiling's side still hung in Patchouli's left hand; within its monstrous mouth. Marisa and Meiling were then forced to watch as the mouth devoured the flesh whole.

Patchouli licked her lips in delight. "Ah… Fresh meat… Flesh always tastes its best if ate from the bones of the still living. Yes… Yes, you two will be a scrumptious meal. All that is needed is to add a little… flavor… Your own misery will do." She said.

Marisa's legs, unknown to her, were shaking like crazy. "Keep dreaming, ya sick freak. I'll do what I should of done the second I met ya." She pulled out her mini-Hakkero and aimed it at the grinning Patchouli. "And blast ya out of her and straight to hell, da ze! Master Spaaarrrk!"

From the mini-Hakkero came forth Marisa's signature attack. The beam of flashing radiant colors unleashed a chaotic blast that blew away the tables and chairs. Meiling struggled to keep her feet on the ground, her arms up over her face to shield her from the blinding light.

Despite the mind-wracking noise the magical beam made, the alien horror's terrible laugh could be heard coming from every direction.

Patchouli's lips started to move and from them came foul words of an eldritch language; in the most literal of sense. The words the possessed girl spoke took physical form as they left her mouth. The black words twirled around, forming into a tunnel. Marisa's Master Spark entered the tunnel and once it did, the tunnel of alien words closed around the beam, freezing it in place.

Marisa and Meiling stood speechless, bewitched in horrified astonishment.

The words sunk into the beam of light, twisting it into a beam of darkness. The words then molded the beam into a black ball. The black ball of corrupted magic floated to Patchouli then settled in the palm of her snarling hand.

The evil magician chuckled. "A neat little trick I came up with once upon a time." She said as the ball of energy was sucked into her hand's mouth.

Marisa gritted her teeth, insulted by the alien's words. "You haven't seen anything yet, bub!" She then turned her eyes to Meiling. "China. I need a diversion. Think you could-" She gasped midsentence when she noticed Meiling's failing condition.

Meiling was barely keeping on her feet as the wound on her side tormented her. The wound was boiling with blood and yellow puss. The skin around the wound appeared dead and decaying. Her exposed rib looked as if it was being eaten away by acid. Meiling's sweaty pale face showed that the wound was no ordinary wound.

"Meiling!" Marisa called out as she raced to help the injured youkai.

"I'm… I'm alright, Miss Marisa. Wha-What did you want me to do? I… I didn't catch all of that…" Meiling said weakly as she drew in exasperated breaths.

Marisa grabbed a hold of Meiling to help her stay on her feet. "Shit… That bastard did a number on ya with just one bite…"

"I'm fine, Miss Marisa. R-Really."

"You both are far from fine." The possessed Patchouli said.

Marisa glared at the magician, her eyes filled with hatred. "I've about had it with you, you son of a bitch." She said.

"Oh… Oh, don't be mad at me, young Marisa. I gave you the chance to avoid this unnecessary violence and you refused. But… but I will give you a second… chance…" She raised her hand slowly, and just as slowly pointed her finger at Meiling. "Feed me that dying thing, and I will allow you to serve me."

A burning fury could be seen in Marisa's eyes. "How dare you! How dare you even ask me such a despicable thing!" She screamed. "You'll never scare me into submission so give it up already!"

Her infuriated expression vanished as fast as it appeared when Patchouli suddenly appeared directly in front of her. She tried to keep her teeth clenched, but they were beginning to chatter as the fear surpassed the hatred.

Patchouli placed a gentle hand on Marisa's cheek. Marisa could feel the mouth on the hand licking her cheek with its vile tongue. She could tell it was desperately holding back its mindless desire to tear into her face, but she was too terrified to do anything about it.

"Oh… I'm sure I could, young one. If I were to tell you… if I were to tell you that I would protect you from the one you truly fear… what would you say?" Patchouli asked in a quiet voice.

Marisa's body felt like stone now, but she was still able to move her lips. "I'd tell ya to go fuck yourself, ze." She sneered.

Patchouli frowned, about-faced, and walked away. "Such a shame…"

With the possessed girl showing her back, Marisa saw this as their chance. She looked down at Meiling. "Now's our chance-" She nearly choked on her words when she saw who she was holding up was not the Gate Guard, but someone else. Tears made their appearance in her eyes as she shook her head in denial. "No… This… isn't… possible…" She cried.

The person she was holding up was covered in tattered yellow cloth that blew around in a nonexistent wind. On the figure's head was a spikey crown of great malevolence.

Marisa let out a startled shriek when a tattered rag wrapped around her arm. She shook it off violently and quickly backed away.

The figure in yellow slowly stood up straight, revealing the silver pallid mask that was forever burned in Marisa's mind. The two black holes that made up its eyes threatened to destroy any sane mind that was caught in their cruel sight. A blood red aura of vile energy poured off the tattered figure, spilling across the floor.

Marisa was still shaking her head, refusing to believe what stood before her. She desperately convinced herself that it wasn't real, that it was all just an illusion, but her heart knew what she was seeing, and it screamed for her.

The possessed Patchouli let out a cruel laugh. "Oh,my… My my my my my…" She said as she walked up behind the cowering Marisa, hugging her from behind. "Does someone have a deep fear of the big bad King in Yellow?" She said, speaking directly into Marisa's ear.

Marisa's eyes were prisoners of the two black holes of the silver mask. Try as she might, she just couldn't look away from those endless pits of darkness. She knew that at any moment that maddening red glow would come out of them once again. She knew that if she didn't look away before that happened, then those eyes of pure madness would snatch her soul away.

"That's… not… real…" Marisa struggled to say. "He's not here… anymore…"

"Oh, but he is, dear Marisa." Patchouli whispered in Marisa's ear. "You arrived here with him. Don't… Don't you remember?"

"Wha… What are you saying?"

The creature behind the magician laughed. "You know who." She said, then moved her lips over to Marisa's other ear and cooed. "The boy is the Harbinger of Madness. If he is here, so too is the Unspeakable One. You know that…"

"S-S-So what? This freak is gone. Gone! Tra-Trapped in some other frik'n dimension! Not here!" Marisa shouted sporadically.

She tossed her hand over her heart, as if to keep it from being ripped out of her chest by the dark pull of the Unspeakable One's eyes.

"Marisaaa." The possessed Patchouli cooed. "In order to make this dark spirit go away… you will need to get rid of the one who anchors him to this dimension."

Marisa's eyes were going dark. Her terrified expression died down, but only to be replaced with a drained look of hopelessness.

"Ma… Max…?" She asked.

Patchouli nodded. "That's right, child… He will come back if you let him live. You don't want to see this evil god again, do you?"

"No…" Marisa said with a lifeless shake of her head.

"Then why don't you and I go and find those three meddling fools together, hm? We will find them… We will devour them… And we will prevent this malign spirit from ever returning and hurting you ever again. After that… we'll find others to join us in witnessing the end of the Earth. I assure you… you will be much… more… happy…" The possessed girl said, her voice and her expression growing ever darker with each word she spoke. "Now… Tell me, young Marisa… Who should we feast upon first?"

"My fist!"

The possessed Patchouli was startled by the sudden shout and shocked to see the Gate Guard still standing.

Fighting back the intense pain the wound in her side was causing her, Meiling stood defiant before Marisa and the possessed Patchouli. A spell card burned vibrantly in her bloody right fist.

"Attack Sign "Roc Fist"!" She shouted her attack and immediately launched it.

The possessed Patchouli watched dumbfounded as Meiling's fist of burning colors flew towards her. The stunned being took the punch directly to the face. An explosion of spiritual power and she was blasted backwards into one of the bookcases. She fell to the floor and was buried under a mountain of books that fell on her.

"I'm not done yet!" Meiling shouted as she aimed her left fist at the spellbound Marisa. "This is for calling me China when my name is Hong Meiling!"

She drove her fist into Marisa's nose, knocking her straight back and to the hard floor. With both magicians on the floor, she stood up straight, observed the downed Marisa and the mountain of books then held her chin up high in victory.

Marisa groaned as she covered her bleeding nose with her hands. "What… was that?" She asked.

Meiling helped Marisa to her feet. "Punishment, Miss Marisa. Good 'ol punishment." She said with a cheerful smile. She pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to Marisa.

Marisa dried her eyes first with the handkerchief then her bloody nose. She then looked around to find that the figure in yellow was nowhere to be found. She clenched her teeth in anger.

"I knew it… That damn thing thinks it can trick me? Like hell…" She said. She then remembered Meiling's wound. She looked at it to see that it was no better than the last time she saw it.

Meiling was still visibly in pain, but she continued to smile regardless. "Don't worry about me, Miss Marisa. We have more important things to worry about." She said.

Marisa smiled and nodded. "You're right, da ze." Her smile disappeared and she turned her attention to where the mound of books was, only to find an extremely angry looking Patchouli glaring at her and Meiling.

Meiling got into her fighting stance. "Oh, boy. Looks like I made it mad." She said with a sly grin.

"Hee hee. How true." Marisa said. "We'll just gonna have to apologize to Patchouli for what we're gonna do to her body."

Meiling nodded. "Wish we didn't have to, but we can't let ourselves be hurt by that thing either." She said.

The possessed Patchouli grinded her teeth, her face beat read with intensified anger. But she managed to calm herself down with a deep breath. She got back into her calm composure, though she couldn't hide her fury behind a stern face.

"Even after I... treated you so… so nicely. This is how you… repay me?" She said.

"You're sick and evil. There's nothing else to you." Meiling said.

"Enough of your jibber-jabber. Let's do this!" Marisa exclaimed.

Patchouli sighed as she shook her head. "How long will you continue to fight? Will you continue to fight when HE comes?" The Horror asked.

Marisa tightly held her glowing mini-Hakkero, ready to use it at any moment. "Let him come. Scared or not, I will never hurt someone else because of my own fears." She said.

Patchouli laughed cruelly. "No, you fool. I do not mean the Unspeakable One."

Marisa and Meiling both raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Then… Who?" Marisa asked fearfully.

With a nightmarish grin, the Cosmic Horror behind the mask of flesh spoke in its own voice; a dark and infernal voice. "The most powerful of them all."

Terror again flooded Marisa's and Meiling's hearts, but they fought it back with determination and will power.

"Enough of your mind games! We'll destroy you and any others that show themselves here!" Marisa declared.

"As long as I can still form a fist, I'll continue to fight no matter how many Horrors show up!" Meiling stated with a loud voice.

The only thing the possessed Patchouli could do was stare back at the two girls with its alien eyes. "Then so be it…"

Marisa and Meiling watched confused at the possessed girl as she reached her hand up to her face. It was then they were forced to watch in horror as the alien desecrated their friend further. The Horror dug her nails into her face, and with one good pull, tore her face off, leaving a most horrible sight that would haunt Marisa and Meiling forever. Patchouli's face now consisted of nothing but dripping blood and a large snarling mouth much like the ones on her hands.

With her horrific mouth, the alien horror screamed in its eldritch voice. "I will tear your souls apart and scatter the pieces across the cosmos!"

* * *

Sakuya and Alice raced down aisle after aisle in their pursuit of Max; their only guiding light through the sickening fog being the dreaded aura the black book Max carried let out. He remained out of sight, but his footsteps were easily heard up ahead.

The girls' lungs worked vigorously to pull in oxygen from the tainted air to feed the muscles in their fast moving legs.

"Damn that fool. Is he trying to get himself lost?" Alice said, the burning in her chest from her overworked lungs fueling her already heightened agitation.

"Whatever it is he's planning, we have no choice but to follow him, Miss Alice." Sakuya insisted.

"You're kidding me, right? This is the same idiot that brought an Outer God into our world and nearly destroyed us. Surely you, Miss Sakuya, are more sensible than the others and understand that he's still a danger to us."

"Maybe so, but my mistress thinks otherwise and I must respect her judgment."

"With all due respect, Miss Sakuya, but I can't help but think your mistress has lost her mind." Alice said. "I don't understand what she can possibly see in that sorry excuse for a human being."

"A lot, I'm afraid…"

Alice let out a depressing groan. "It's going to be a disaster just like last time."

Sakuya spotted Max standing within the fog and quickly came to a sudden stop. Alice spotted him a second later and nearly ran into him. They both took the chance to catch their breath as Max seemed to do the same.

"What… What are you doing, running off like that?" Alice asked.

Max's eyes were focused upward, looking around and trying to see as far as he could through the fog.

A sneer quickly appeared on Alice's face when she wasn't answered. She grabbed Max by the shoulder to try and force his attention to her.

"Don't just stand there and ignore me. Answer me." She said in a demanding tone.

Max gave her one quick look then returned to studying their surroundings. "About time you slowpokes made it. I probably could of rubbed one out while I waited." He said.

Alice went to punch him in the back of the head, but Sakuya grabbed her by the shoulder and urged her to try and refrain from doing so with her eyes. Alice shrugged the maid's hand off and huffed.

"One punch is far less than I should do to him for trapping me in that nightmare." She said then turned her glare to Max. "Don't you even think I've forgiven you for that, you bastard."

"You're still going on about that? Get over it already." Max said waspishly.

"I will not!" Alice shouted.

Max winced in irritation from the shout. "I'm pretty sure you were the one who started that fight to begin with so you got what you deserved. Just be happy I don't have the power to put you right back in that nightmare." He said.

"It seems death hasn't bestowed any sense of morality in you. It looks like I will need to." Alice said as she threw her book open, ready to read out its contents at any moment. Before she could mutter a word of it, Sakuya stepped between her and Max.

"Please do not waste your energy on him, Miss Alice." Sakuya urged.

"M-Miss Sakuya, please step aside. He needs to be taught a lesson."

"Please don't let your own problems with the man get in the way of our real objective, Miss Alice. I am far from fond of him myself but we have a much greater issue to deal with. So please… calm yourself. For Miss Patchouli's sake." Sakuya said calmly.

Alice stood defiant, but after a brief moment of thinking it over she closed her book. She took a deep breath and exhaled and slowly calmed herself.

"You're right. My thoughts… My thoughts weren't in the right place. I am sorry." She said with a slight bow.

Sakuya gave her a warm smile and nodded. They both turned to Max, who continued to ponder to himself. Alice couldn't help but glare angrily at the man.

"Because of you… Every time I close my eyes I still see that nightmare." Alice said.

"Hmph… You and me both…" Max said quietly.

Alice arched an eyebrow, curious about what he meant.

"Max." Sakuya said, eager to get a move on.

"Hm? Got someth'n you want to bitch about too? Well, go on. Out with it." Max said.

"No. It's that book you stole from that thing." Sakuya said as she pointed at the black book Max held underneath his arm. "It's obviously a dangerous book, but how dangerous is it exactly?"

"Does it have anything to do with that page I found?" Alice asked.

Max reached back into his pants pocket and pulled out the folded up page. The second he did, the black book opened itself and with a violent wind, ripped the folded page out of his hand. The page was pulled into the book, where it was unfolded and placed among the many other pages.

"Damn thing…" Max said as he slammed the book shut.

"It was a page from it?" Alice said in surprise.

"Yup."

"What kind of book is it?" Sakuya asked.

"Listen. The only thing you two need to know about this book is that we absolutely cannot let the Depraved One have it." Max said urgently.

"The… what?" Alice asked.

"We're going up against an Ancient One. And this one is one sick puppy." Max said.

"Then we will certainly need the vampire's help." Alice insisted. "Why is she not here with us?"

"That stupid vampire has already fought two Ancient Ones. It's our turn to shine now." Max said with a cocky grin and a thumbs up.

"Be serious, you fool." Alice scowled.

"I think it's safe to say that we wouldn't be let out easily to get help regardless." Sakuya said.

"Yup. So we're on our own." Max said. "I'll be guarding this book."

"While we fight the Horror? Hmph. Calling you a boy is even too much." Alice scoffed.

"Look, bitch. I can whip my dick out and try to mesmerize the fucking thing, but I ain't gonna kid myself. I got nothing to fight an eldritch monster with." Max said.

"Isn't that the truth…" Alice said as she rolled her eyes.

"I can still fuck your shit up any day of the week so I ain't complain'n." Max said bitterly.

"Is that a challenge?" Alice asked with a threatening glare.

"Enough, you two." Sakuya said then turned to Max. "Miss Alice and I are more than ready to fight a Horror if it means freeing Miss Patchouli."

Max let out a drawn out sigh as he glided his hand down over his face. "I know that. But don't get cocky. This bastard is not some random Horror. If we lose… killing us will be the last thing on its list." He warned.

Alice let out a huff. "Is this boy looking down on us, Miss Sakuya?"

"I think he is, Miss Alice." Sakuya replied.

"Oh, for the love of Christ…" Max said with the roll of his eyes. "Just don't lose your minds."

"Now is the question on how you plan on finding the monster." Sakuya said.

"Heh…" Max turned around then looked to the sky. "Hey, cocksucker!" He shouted out into the library.

Alice face-palmed. "Name calling? Seriously? That's your plan on getting him to appear? How juvenile can you possibly be?"

"You want this book?! Then you come out and take it from my cold dead hands! Enough hiding! Come out! Y'golonac!" Max called out.

With the call of its name, the Cosmic Horror of Voile filled the air with its dreadful laugh, sending chills up the spines of all those present in the library. Its laugh of depravity cursed the very air and suffocated the light. Max, Sakuya and Alice felt as if the unholy laugh was crushing them with its cruelty. A dark voice followed the laughter's end.

"So… You know of my name, Harbinger? My, my… I am impressed. The Unspeakable One fed you quite a handful of knowledge, now didn't he?" The dark voice echoed from every direction.

Max clicked his teeth in disgust. "Yeah, unfortunately. But enough about that. Stop wasting my time and show yourself. I got a mansion full of bitches to screw around with and by god there will be some screwing going on up in here." He said then was promptly slapped across the back of the head by both Sakuya and Alice. "Ow! What?" He asked, only to get a dirty look from the two girls.

The Horror's foul laugh filled the air once more. "Are… Are you sure about that, Harbinger? Do you… Do you really wish to subjugate these poor girls… and yourself… to such a sight?"

"Do not worry about us, sick one. We won't have to look at you for long." Alice said as she held her book at the ready.

Sakuya cupped her hand over her nose. "That smell… Did it get more rancid all of a sudden?" She asked.

Max put his hand up under his nose. "It is… the fucker is close."

"I do wonder how that book you hold found its way here, but that doesn't matter, only that it is here. It is a true masterpiece. A fine piece of literature. Some pages are still missing from it, but what it does hold is enough to keep me entertained for eons to come." The Horror said. "Come. Return it to me, boy. Give it to me to read. It is not going to read itself… OR WILL IT?!"

With its monstrous scream, a violent quake was awakened within the library. Books were thrown out of their places within the many bookcases before the bookcases themselves were toppled over. The marble floor spit open and hellish fire rose out from the cracks. The strengthening foul stench made the air feel soupy and harder to breathe in.

Max, Sakuya and Alice could only watch in terror as the library seemed to collapse all around them. The quakes slowly died down as the last few bookcases fell over. The last bookcase to fall over proved to be what was shielding them from a most abominable sight.

Before them sat what appeared to be a gigantic humanoid that was immensely obese to grotesque proportions. Its pale white skin was stained with yellow and looked leathery and dead. From its skin appeared the occasional bubble that would burst with a gruesome pop, unleashing heinous yellow ooze. On the palm of both of its hands appeared a mouth filled with rows of shark-like teeth. They mindlessly snarled in profane hunger and drooled burning yellow ichor, desperate to rend flesh and to taste blood. More horrible was the head the eldritch abomination lacked completely. An eerie blood flowed from where the neck would have been, bubbling and hissing down the Horror's form.

"Oh dear go-" Alice succumbed to the utterly horrible sight in a near instant and vomited all over the broken floor.

Sakuya's hands covered her face without her needing to tell them to, determined to prevent her from seeing the terrible abomination a second longer. "Uhg… I'm… I'm going be sick too… Erk!" She said as she struggled to keep her stomach from climbing up out of her throat and taking off.

Max studied the Horror's mutant form with what looked to be an oddly curious expression. He then scoffed at the abomination. "Ah, it ain't that bad. I actually expected a little-" He said before his true feelings about the sickening sight came flying out of his mouth and onto the floor in the form of vomit.

Sickened, Alice struggled to collect herself. "Uhg… H-How? How are we supposed to fight something like that?" She said strenuously.

"I've never seen something so horrible in my life." Sakuya said, now almost in tears as she desperately wished for the abomination to not truly be there.

Max spat out what vomit was left in his mouth and clenched the black book with all of his might. "Damn it, you girls. Don't fail me now. If that thing gets this book back, then the world will end much sooner than it has to."

The eldritch entity laughed, ravaging the three's minds with its depraved taint. "Oh, don't worry about that. I merely wish to read its contents to those who dwell behind the stars… and to the one who will destroy it all when he arrives." Its voice echoed painfully in their minds.

"You won't be reading anything as long as I'm alive, you depraved fuck!" Max shouted.

"That can be arranged." The abomination said.

The alien horror drowned the library with its haunting laugh, injecting its otherworldly voice into all sentient minds, telling them that all hope was lost, for Y'golonac the Depraved One was here to stay.


	19. Chapter 19 Discord in Voile

With Y'golonac having shown itself, Max, Alice and Sakuya only needed to destroy it in order to free Patchouli from its dark control, but that was easier said than done. Far more easier. Their feet were frozen too the floor. Their insides were thrashing around from the Horror's gruesome appearance and their eyes fought to look away. Their nostrils burned fiercely from the stench of the creature. As much as they denied it in their heads, the truth was they were terrified and fighting that feeling of terror took much of their mental fortitude. But now that the initial shock of seeing the Horror for the first time was over, their fighting spirit had room to grow.

Y'golonac relished in their mental disarray. "Come now, children. You went through the trouble of calling me out so do not hesitate to make the first move. I will be more than happy to give you plenty of chances to defeat me. I have all the time in this world." The thing said, laughing disturbingly soon afterwards. "Which is not much…"

Max growled in frustration from the girl's inaction. "What are you two doing? Get out there!" He ordered then slapped both of the girls on their rear-ends, causing them to cry out in surprise.

Rubbing her sore butt, Alice turned and glared at Max. "I want you to know that once we're done with this thing that I'm going to tightly bind your hands with puppet strings and leave them to turn purple and fall off." She scowled.

"Wow. Didn't expect ya to be into that kinky shit, doll face." Max said, looking surprised.

Alice growled angrily then was grabbed by the arm by Sakuya. "Don't get distracted, Miss Alice. We need to end this as quickly as possible. I can't stand the sight and smell of that monster." Sakuya said.

Alice pulled her arm out of Sakuya's grip. "If this coward would just keep his mouth shut so I can focus-"

"Oh, fuck you." Max interrupted. "I'm still here ain't I? I could be back in the Outside World banging some broad, but nope. Here I am. Helping you people out. First time around was my fault. This time it ain't so I have no damn reason to be helping you at all."

"Then why are you still here?! You'd be doing Gensokyo a favor by leaving!" Alice shouted.

"Oh gee willikers, doll face. Maybe it's because I'm a nice fucking guy? That ever cross your mind?"

"You can't fool me, you filthy ingrate. All you're trying to do is get one of us to sleep with you with your faked heroics."

"Not one of you. ALL of you." Max corrected then immediately was forced to go on the defensive when Alice approached him menacingly. "Bring it!" He exclaimed while wielding the black book as a weapon.

Sakuya quickly got between the two. "Would you two please give it a rest already?" She urged.

"I can't rest properly because of him. Knowing he was in Hell was the only comfort I had when I would sleep. Now I can't even have that now that he lives again." Alice said grudgingly.

"Oh boo fucking hoo. Keep bawling about that and you just might drown the bastard and everyone else in here." Max jibed.

"You're lucky I don't feed you to the monster!" Alice yelled furiously.

"For goodness sake, will you two knock it off? This is the worst possible time for you to be fighting." Sakuya said as she kept Alice from getting near Max.

"She's the psycho with the issues." Max grumbled.

And with that insult, Alice snapped. She shoved Sakuya out of the way then lunged for Max, her hand reached out, ready to grab onto Max's neck to strangle the life out of him. She came close to getting a hold of him, but her body, as well as the bodies of Max and Sakuya, froze completely the moment the patient Ancient One spoke.

"Enough!" Y'golonac said with its dark and booming voice, gaining the group's unwilling attention. "It would seem as the young magician has qualms with the Harbinger." It said then chuckled to itself as it pondered for a brief moment. "Perhaps young Alice would listen… to a proposition of mine?"

Alice scoffed at the Horror, disgusted that it was speaking to her. "Save your rotten breath, monster. You have nothing to offer me other than your own destruction."

"Now now, little Alice. I merely wish to make a little trade with you." The Horror said.

Alice arched an eyebrow, as did Max and Sakuya. "A trade?" Alice said, unable to help but to be curious.

A dark chuckle from Y'golonac made the group increasingly uneasy. "Yes… A trade… You wish for little Patchouli back, do you not? It is the only reason why you are here, after all. Your fellow magician is in danger and you wish to save her. I… can make that a simple task for you…"

Max and Sakuya looked at each other, showing one another's worried expressions. Alice, on the other hand, felt strangely compelled to continue listening to the Depraved One's words.

Y'golonac's vile hand slowly rose up into the air, a finger then extending outward, pointing at Max. "For the Harbinger's life… I will release Patchouli immediately. Simple, no?" It said.

Max and Sakuya tensed up upon hearing what they were suspecting. They turned their attention to Alice, who seemed to have been stricken with fright from the proposal.

"You were already debating it before so it should be an easy decision…" The headless Horror said as it took great delight in the emotional chaos it had unleashed in Alice's mind. "You would be doing much more than just saving your friend by killing the boy as well. Am I right, Miss Margatroid?"

Sakuya pulled out a knife and prepared to attack the abomination. "Enough of your talk. We did not come here to bargain with a creature such as you." She said then turned to Alice. "Let's end this once and for all, Miss Alice. We can just beat this thing to free Lady Patchouli." She said with a smile, but her smile was wiped clean upon seeing the expression on Alice's face; an expression of consideration.

"Wait, Miss Sakuya… Just wait a minute… "Alice said quietly.

Dread surfaced on Sakuya's face. "Don't be stupid, Alice. That thing is clearly lying. It'll do anything to sow discord between us and that includes making absurd offers." She said.

"She's right, doll face." Max said.

"You shut up, Max." Alice said. She clenched her teeth as her thoughts raged in her head. Sweat drops were popping out of her skin and rolling down her face.

"Listen. I'm not trying to save my own ass here. I'm not happy being alive again so I seriously could not care less if I died again. I just don't want you wasting time on me when you could be killing that bastard. Alright?" Max said urgently.

Sakuya gently placed her hand on Alice's shoulder, but failed to get her eyes to hers. "Alice… Just forget what it said. It's just trying to get us to fight one another so it doesn't have to fight all three of us." She said.

Alice slowly shook her head. "You're wrong… This Horror doesn't need to trick us. It's powerful… I can feel its power. We can feel its power. It's why we feel sick just by being near it. It has nothing to gain by killing Max. But…" She turned around and faced Max, their eyes meeting one another. "We do."

Max saw that Alice had already made up her mind and sighed in defeat, his gaze going to the floor, but Sakuya went on to try and convince the puppeteer wrong.

"Th-That's not true at all, Miss Alice. Please don't listen to a Horror. You know it only has ill intentions." Sakuya said.

"I must object to that, young Sakuya." Y'golonac said. "It was young Patchouli who read my name from that book. She was the one who opened the way into your little world for me. All I wish to do… is to collect the book and to wait…"

Sakuya glared hatefully at the abomination. "You lie." She sneered.

"I do not lie, little Sakuya. I have no need to deceive like humans do." Y'golonac said.

Alice held her book out, prepared to open it. "I'm sorry, Miss Sakuya. I may not know as much about eldritch horrors like this man does, but I know enough. I know that he is still a serious danger to not just Gensokyo, but to the Earth."

"That's not true, Miss Alice. Please listen to me." Sakuya strongly urged.

"He still carries the Yellow Sign Medallion. He is connected to it and that means… he is still connected to that terrible ghost." Alice said. "Isn't that right, Max?"

Max said nothing, and continued to stare at the floor with his arms folded across his chest in silence.

"Answer me, Max." Alice said demandingly. She wanted to hear it from his mouth. She wanted him to tell her if she was right or wrong with the decision she was about to make.

Max looked up at Alice and shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want me to tell ya, hm? You want me to lie? Is that it?" He asked.

"You brought that Outer God into our world. Intentional or not… You nearly destroyed us all." Alice said.

"But he banished that god and that other Outer God into another dimension, Alice." Sakuya said in her desperate try to persuade Alice to back down.

"All he did was correct his own mistake." Alice said. "For that I will thank you." She said to Max while giving him a small bow. With a woeful sigh, she opened her grimoire. She quickly wiped her woeful expression off and replaced it with one of sternness, glancing at Max with her green eyes. "We were very lucky last time. If that Outer God were to appear again… I don't think we would be able to win against him. So in order to make sure that doesn't happen, then I, Alice Margatroid, will be destroying you, Max."

Max sighed as he placed a hand over his face. He held no ill thoughts against Alice for her decision and in fact sympathized with her greatly. If anything he thought her to be the sanest one of the group.

"I won't be killing you out of my own personal feelings. I'm doing it for the sake of Gensokyo. For the sake of the world. So… Sorry for this…" Alice said and bowed again.

"Well, at least you gave me some warning this time before jumping me." Max said with a little laugh.

"Alice, don't do this." Sakuya urged once more.

"If the Horror frees Patchouli then that will free up Marisa and the Gate Guard. They will give us a much better chance against this abomination. Alice looked over her shoulder at the abomination. "You will release Patchouli, correct?" She said.

"Of course…" Y'golonac answered. "The second the Harbinger's heart ceases to beat… young Patchouli will be set free. But, young Alice… We do not have to fight. I have no attention on harming any of you. I just wish for that book and to wait… wait for the end to come. I wish to witness it end with you as well, if you would be so kind as to accompany me."

"Fat chance, monster. Just release Patchouli once I destroy the boy. We're 'discuss' what we will do with you afterward." Alice said with a huff.

"Alice. Think of the consequences. If you kill him then you will earn the hatred of my master. I'm sure others would not think well of you for killing him either. Think about how Marisa may feel about you if you go through with this." Sakuya said.

Alice frowned and nodded. "I know… That silly girl becomes friendly with anyone she sees… I'm sure she will hate me for this… but I can't bear the thought of the Unspeakable One coming back and hurting her again. Or any of us." She said.

"Can't we put this off until after we have dealt with this alien?" Sakuya asked.

"No. I must prioritize on which Horror to destroy first. Now is the only time for me to do what must be done without that silly mistress of yours or anyone else getting in my way." Alice stated.

And with that, Sakuya sighed in defeat. She walked in between the two and faced Alice. "Then you leave me with no choice, Miss Alice. I can't let you harm this man. If I must, I will defend him in my master's place." She said.

Alice gritted her teeth at the Chief Maid's proclamation. "Why won't you understand, Sakuya? I'm not doing this because I want to, but because we have to. You know just as well as I do how dangerous his existence is. He has no real connection to Gensokyo so why, Sakuya? Why?"

"It is simple, really." Sakuya said. "He really isn't a likeable person, but my master is fond of him."

"Uhg… Please don't say that stupid vampire is attracted to this man just because he's a little easy on the eyes." Alice said, feeling a headache coming along.

"Uhm…" Sakuya's eyes wandered as she struggled for words to say.

"Uh, could you elaborate on that, maid girl?" Max asked.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Max." Sakuya said kindly.

"Of course it is, ya dumb maid!" Max exclaimed.

"Enough of this. I will put Max down and prevent the King in Yellow from returning to our dimension ever again!" Alice loudly declared as her grimoire glowed a magical blue.

"If this is how it must be then so be it." Sakuya said as she pulled out a spell card.

The monstrous mouths of Y'golonac's hands grinned wickedly. It watched as Max, Alice and Sakuya prepared to perform for him. He watched as his puppet Patchouli danced to the pull of his strings, dancing along with Marisa and Meiling. He watched with depraved glee. He watched as he played them all like fiddles.

Max reached his arms up above his head in a stretch. "Well, I'm boned." He said casually.

"Run, you idiot!" Sakuya exclaimed.

"Just stand still, Max, so I may end this as quick and painless for you." Alice said then spoke her attack. "War Command "Doll's War"!"

Several blue spell circles formed around Alice. From those circles rose dolls with closed eyes. They each were equipped with a metallic weapon such as swords, spears and mallets. Once they fully materialized, their eyes shot open and they darted forward, bypassing Sakuya and heading straight for Max.

"Oh shit!" Max exclaimed then made a run for it down the aisle and into the green fog, the dolls close behind him.

"Shit!" Sakuya shouted, shocked at the speed the dolls moved. She quickly called her spell card's name to stop them. "Illusion Sign "Killing Doll"!"

"I don't think so, Sakuya! I can handle you while my dolls put an end to this madness!" Alice declared then shouted the name of a second spell card. "Curse Sign "Hourai Doll"!"

Numerous knives appeared around Sakuya while five dolls materialized from blue fire around Alice. Sakuya took aim at the sprinting dolls, but she was thrown off by the five small red beams fired at her. Sakuya's knives flew, but only managed to strike a few dolls while the rest disappeared into the green fog after Max.

Sakuya clicked her teeth in frustration. She went to pursue the dolls, but she suddenly became immobilized.

"Eh?! Why can't I move? Gah!" Sakuya cried out in pain when her body suddenly twisted. Something coiled around her, tightening painfully around her. A small flash of reflected light showed the appearance of several puppet strings wrapped around her.

Alice, with a strong expression of sternness, stood with her right hand held out at Sakuya. "Don't worry, Miss Sakuya. I will tell your mistress you fought hard to defend him, but ultimately failed. It'll be alright." She said.

Sakuya cringed from hearing the word 'fail'. "Sorry, but I won't be failing my mistress again anytime soon, Miss Puppeteer." She said.

Alice scowled then shook her head. "It's too late. We can fight all day long, but my dolls will get to him before long. Don't force yourself to protect him." She said. Her expression turned to that of surprise when Sakuya chuckled. "Wha… What's so funny?" She asked, feeling a bit annoyed now.

"I am but a humble maid in service to Lady Remilia. I do no such thing as 'force myself' when working for her. I simply do as a maid does. Nothing more. Nothing less." Sakuya said proudly.

Alice growled in heated frustration. "Even if it means defending someone who has the potential of destroying her?" She asked.

Sakuya smiled and nodded. "It is not a maid's place to decide on who lives and who dies. That is Milady's decision."

A louder, rumbling growl emitted from Alice. She took in a deep breath to calm herself. "Fine. Do as you will, but you won't be getting out of my web of puppet strings. You move and you will be cut to ribbons." She warned.

"Oh?" Sakuya smirked.

Alice watched in surprise as a knife appeared in Sakuya's hand. The strings were pulled to constrict her, but with one elegant swipe of the blade, Sakuya freed herself of the puppet strings. She freed herself, but at the cost of several red cuts around her arm. Parts of her uniform were cut as well. One cut appeared across her cheek, a small, fine line of blood pouring from it. She simply took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the cut with it.

Alice stomped on the marble floor out of anger. "Stubborn maid! This isn't a game!" She yelled.

Sakuya folded her handkerchief up and placed it back in her pocket. "It is what it is, Miss Alice." She said. A spell card popped out from her sleeve and into her hand. "I will do what I must to protect what belongs to Milady. Against anyone and anything."

Alice stood speechless for a moment, but a waspish scowl soon appeared on her face. "Then so be it." She said as she flashed a spell card across her scowling face.

* * *

Sprinting down the fog filled aisle with the black book held firmly under his arm, Max desperately tried to keep his feet moving and his eyes forward. His loud labored breathing wasn't enough to block out sounds of small, skittering footsteps close behind him. He dared not look back nor stop, but fatigue was setting upon him quickly.

"Being chased by murderous dolls can easily be placed in my top ten list of 'Fucked up moments of My Life'." Max commented.

Suddenly, a spinning axe flew passed over his shoulder, nearly taking his ear with it.

"Holy Marry 'n Joseph!" He exclaimed. He skidded to a halt then turned around, and right in time to spot one doll flying towards him with a spear at hand, ready to spear him through his chest.

Max took a hold of the black book and held it like a baseball bat. He spat off to the side then took aim at the incoming doll.

"Just like old times…" He said under his heated breath.

The doll aimed directly for Max's heart with its spear and picked up speed. Max tightened his grip on the black book and prepared to swing it. Once the doll came into range, he swung the book with all his strength, striking the doll dead on. The doll was sent spiraling into the air where it disappeared into the fog.

"And its gooood!" Max exclaimed with the pump of his fist.

More dolls appeared from the green fog. Wielding a sword, one leaped into the air to slice Max down the middle. He took the black book and held it out in front of him like a shield. The doll's blade slashed the hard cover of the book, leaving a cut mark that looked like a cut of flesh.

The book rumbled strangely in Max's hands. He watched warily as a dark grumbling noise echoed from it. Seconds later, the doll that had cut it was sliced in two right down the middle by a dark force for its crime. The two parts of the doll fell to the ground, unmoving.

Max stared at the book as the cut on it slowly vanished in amazement. "I'd say this was creepy as all hell, but I'm being attacked by killer dolls at the moment." He said.

Max looked to where the first doll had fallen to see another doll. He looked around him to find that five dolls had encircled him.

"Keep on coming. I'm banging the puppet girl for each of you I smash into pieces." Max said, grinning arrogantly.

The doll wielding a hammer jumped into the air towards him. The doll swung at his head, but he jumped back to avoid being struck then countered by smacking the doll away with the book. Another doll, one with a scimitar as a weapon, lunged for him. Max stuck out his chest as it went to impale him. The doll's scimitar hit its mark, but was prevented from piercing him by the medallion under his shirt. He struck the doll down with the book.

The hammer-wielding doll went for another shot at Max's head, but he caught the swung hammer by the handle and tore it from the doll's small hands. He swatted the doll to the floor with the black book then used his new weapon to smash the doll into pieces with one blow. He quickly went to destroy the scimitar doll as well, but the doll leaped back. He missed the doll, cracking the floor where the doll once stood with his hammer strike.

Max stood up straight, prepared for more of the dolls' attacks. "Alrighty then. Who's next?" He asked as he twirled the hammer in his hand. His eyes widened in surprise when a chain wrapped around his hammer. "What the?!" He turned around to see a doll at the other end of the chain. "You little slut!" He cursed at the doll, only for it to rip the hammer out of his hands and out of reach.

With his hammer gone, the scimitar doll as well as two other blade-wielding dolls moved in for the kill. Max stood his ground, the black book his only defense against the dolls. He held up his middle finger at the dolls in defiance.

"Bring it the fuck on. I know where I'm going when I die again so I have nothing to fear from you little bitches." He said. His defiant words were answered with the whip of a chain striking him in the back, bringing him to his knees. "Ahhh, shit! That hurt like a mother fucker!" He shouted as he cringed from the pain.

With a sweaty face, Max looked to see the scimitar doll standing before him as it prepared to end his life with one slash of its sword. The doll held the scimitar up high and he braced himself for the incoming strike.

The doll swung its blade down, but the scimitar was knocked out of its hand by a sudden flying knife. The doll was then struck down by another knife that pierced its head.

Max stared at the unmoving doll, sweat pouring down his stress-filled face. With a big sigh of relief, he clasped his hands in prayer. "God is great! I live to see yet another day!" He yelled out in excitement.

From the green fog appeared a battered Sakuya. Bruises and scratch marks appeared all over her body from her struggle with Alice. Her clothes were torn up, allowing her bra to be easily seen. Her bra was being held up by only one strap and Max quickly took notice of this when she ran to his side after striking down the remaining dolls with thrown knives.

Max leaped to his feet and his eyes latched onto Sakuya's partly exposed bosom. "This. THIS right here is why I live." He said, earning a bonk on the head from a flustered Sakuya.

"Stop that. We have to go. Alice is proving to be difficult to defeat." Sakuya said, keeping alert for any more dolls.

"Seriously. I'm at a loss here. What do I have to do to get in your skirt?" Max asked.

"What?! Someone's trying to take your life and that's what you have on your mind?!" Sakuya exclaimed.

"Look, maid girl. Now you listen to me." Max said as he placed his hands on the sides of his waist, getting into lecturing pose. "I've been through a lot in my life and no psycho doll maker and her killer dolls is gonna scare me. Kapeesh?"

Sakuya's palm met her face. "I cannot believe I'm having this kind of discussion with you right now."

"I will kick a damn puppy out a window just to see your tits." Max said.

"You're hopeless…" Sakuya said with a disgruntled sigh. "Look. If you want in my skirt that badly then I'll let you wear one of my other uniforms. I don't think they will fit you very well, though."

"Funny." Max said, not amused.

"Alright, enough of this talk. We need to-"

"Doooodge!" Max yelled and shoved Sakuya hard, sending her tumbling backwards into the bookcase behind her.

A large red beam of energy flew past between Max and Sakuya, tearing up the marble floor tiles and sending them flying. Once the beam had past and the dust settled, Alice could be seen walking down the aisle with a doll held out in front of her. She was gritting her teeth, obviously angry, but just how angry was hard to tell. Her clothes were cut in places, but not to the extent of Sakuya's.

Sakuya clicked her teeth then glared at Max. "See? If you would just be quiet for five minutes then we could have gotten out of here." She said.

Max nervously scratched the back of his head, looking away from Sakuya's glare. "Yeah, I'ma agree with you there…"

Alice's doll descended to the floor as she came to a stop. She glanced at Max, only a little surprised to see him still breathing. She gave Sakuya a quick glance then let out a drawn out sigh.

"You are only making this harder on yourselves. You, Max, have already died before so just let me end your life again. I'll be sure to cremate your body this time around and dispose of that medallion." She said.

Max huffed as he folded his arms in front of him, standing defiantly. "Just because I died before doesn't mean I'm just gonna let myself die a second time without a fight." He said.

"Hmph. Fine. I tried to be nice about this, but if you insist on dragging out your pain then that's your call." Alice said.

Sakuya jumped in front of Max with a knife in each hand, her eyes on Alice. "Get out of here. I'll hold her off." She said. Max pulled her shoulder, forcing her to turn around. He then pushed the black book into her arms. "Huh? What are you-" Before she could get her question out, Max took off towards Alice. Her jaw then dropped to the floor in bewilderment. "Are you out of your mind?!" She cried out.

Alice too stood with her mouth hung open, perplexed from Max's bizarre action. She quickly got into defensive stance once she realized what he was about to do.

"You dare to attack me head on?!" She exclaimed.

"You want me dead then you do it yourself! Not your little dolls!" Max yelled out as he took a swing at Alice.

She clumsily dodged the punch, dropping her grimoire in the process. She jumped back to avoid a second swing of his fist.

"How dare you take a swing at me!" Alice shouted angrily.

"You're trying to kill me, you blond-haired cunt! And it wouldn't be the first time so clench those teeth!" Max said then threw a jab.

Alice crossed her arms across her enraged face to block. "What did you call me, you bastard!?"

"You heard me! I'll bend ya over my knee and spank ya without any voodoo!"

Max swiped his leg under Alice, knocking her feet out and sending her to the floor. She hit the floor hard with a grunt then received a strong kick to the gut, knocking the wind out of her. She rolled away to avoid being stomped on then jumped back to her feet. Gasping for air, she stared intensely at Max.

"That's it! I've had it with you!" She said in her furry.

"Come get some then, sweetheart!" Max shouted as he grabbed a hold and tugged at his crotch obscenely.

With a nasty sneer, Alice formed a magical ball of blue energy in her hands then fired it at Max. He rolled out of the way then rolled again to avoid a second energy ball. He quickly got to his feet, taking a fist into his side in the process. Alice followed up with a left hook across his face, knocking him up against the bookcase. She went for a third punch, but was knocked back after taking a thrown book to the face.

Alice placed her hand over her bleeding nose then looked at it. Her rage grew upon seeing blood on the palm of her hand. "Forget about killing you out of good reason. I'm just going to hang you and let you die of asphyxiation." She said with intense anger as she clenched her fist.

"God damn it, you look so damn hot when you're mad and sweating." Max said as he kept his fists up, breathing heavily and shaking from the fervor of combat.

With a furious growl, Alice pulled out a spell card with her bloodied hand. She went to call its name but the card was torn from her hand by a flying knife. She turned to the one who had thrown the knife and glared at her with hateful eyes.

"Damn it, Sakuya! You stay out of this!" She roared.

The distracted Alice was then grabbed by Max and thrown into the bookcase. He grabbed her by the head then slammed it into the books on the shelves. With a furious roar, she grabbed Max and slammed his face into the bookshelf in retaliation. She empowered the muscles of her right arm with magic then threw her fist towards his head. He dropped to the floor to dodge and her fist punched through books and created a hole in the bookcase. Alice ripped her arm back out of the bookcase then stood frozen in pain when a fist suddenly flew up between her legs, striking her perfectly in her womanhood. Her face contorted in pain a few times as her eyes began to water up. With her hands between her legs, she fell to her knees. She looked up at the one that had struck her, glaring at him with hate.

"I… I can't believe you just hit me there." She said wretchedly.

Max grinned slyly at her. "Call me daddy and I'll make it feel a hell of a lot better for ya." He said.

"I fucking hate you." She replied strenuously.

"I know, babe." Max said.

From behind came Sakuya. With the black book in hand, she struck Alice across the head. The blow knocked her out cold, causing her to slump forward. Max caught her before she hit the floor then threw her up onto his shoulder.

Max looked at the unconscious magician then let out a long sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god… Thought I was gonna lose a nut or two for a second there." He said.

Panting from exhaustion, Sakuya took a deep breath then stood up straight. "I'm going to have to apologize to you for her behavior." She said.

"Nah. Don't worry about it. I get where she's coming from so I ain't mad or anything." Max said as he patted the unconscious girl's back. "She's the only one with a frick'n clue around here."

"Good…" Sakuya said. She then took a few steps closer to Max. He looked at her confused then jumped fearfully when she gave him a chilling look. "Just a friendly warning… Hit me like that and one of my knives might 'accidently' find its way into your scrotum." She said.

A sweat drop rolled down Max's face, to the tip of his chin, and to the floor. "I was only defending myself, y'know…" He said.

Sakuya smiled brightly. "Oh. Then you have nothing to worry about. Right?"

"Yeah… Sure…" Max said. He sat Alice down softly then sighed in disappointment. "Well this is just great. We're down one man. There goes my plan right out the fucking window."

Sakuya raised an eyebrow. "YOU had a plan?" She said, unconvinced.

Max nodded. "Kinda. I knew you two didn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell against Y'golonac so I had an idea to get rid of him, but I needed doll face here for it to work."

"Why her? What did your plan entail?"

Max took the black book from Sakuya. "Do you know how to cast complicated hocus pocus?" He asked.

Sakuya shook her head. "If you mean spells then I am afraid not."

"You're worthless." Max said plainly, earning dagger-eyes from Sakuya. "And Marisa is busy holding the pajama girl off. So basically we're royally screwed."

"We can't just give up like that. We can go back and assist them in defeating Patchouli." Sakuya said.

"Too late for that, my children." A cruel voice said.

Max and Sakuya looked down the aisle to see whom the voice had come from. They cringed upon seeing the disfigured girl.

The possessed Patchouli, in all her gruesome appearance, stood holding a defeated Meiling by the hair in one hand. She was unconscious, the wound on her side having grown worse. Her body was badly bruised and bloodied all over. In the possessed girl's other hand was a magical blue stone that floated in the palm of her hand. It radiated with an awesome power.

"Meiling!" Sakuya gasped. Seeing the sad state of her friend filled her heart with rage.

The possessed Patchouli released Meiling, dropping the gate guard uncaringly to the floor. A pale, bubbly tongue appeared from the mouth that took up most of her face and licked around her lips, cleaning it of the blood that was splattered across it. From the horrific mouth came a bone-chilling laugh.

"My, my , my… So… Little Alice failed, hm? That is fine. You all have done a wonderful job in keeping me entertained. Allow me… to thank you…" She said then bowed.

"Oh, god damn it…" Max groaned.

"This can't be." Sakuya muttered under her breath. "Where is Marisa?" She asked.

The possessed Patchouli chuckled. "She did well. But unlike the youkai here, she was not able to take the heat and thus has been turned… into ash." She said with a sickening grin.

Fire burned in Sakuya's eyes. "You lie!"

"Do I?" The possessed girl said tauntingly. "She was quite the letdown, I must say. She didn't scream as much as I wanted… when her flesh was melting from her bones."

Max and Sakuya both glared at the possessed magician with hate burning in their eyes. The possessed girl turned away in a blush.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. You are making me shiver…" She said. The girl smirked. "Now… What can I do to the rest of you now that you have all assembled here? What should I do… to make sure that those lurking behind the stars hear your screams? Well? What say you, Miss Scarlet Devil?"

Max's and Sakuya's eyes widened. Upon hearing footsteps behind them, they quickly turned around. From the green fog appeared Remilia, walking softly and with a content expression that veiled the anger that boiled in her from the gruesome sight of her friend.

"L-Lady Remilia?" Sakuya said.

Max sighed. "Why the hell are you here? Go back to bed. We're doing just fine without you. As you can see, we obviously have this situation all under control." He said.

"So good of you to join us, young vampire. I am… I am very pleased you could make it before I finally decided on what to do to these two… young… humans… The possibilities are truly endless." The possessed Patchouli said before falling into a cackling laugh.

Remilia stepped in between Max and Sakuya and stopped. She huffed in disgust at the thing controlling her friend. She didn't make a glance at the fallen Meiling, but was far from being unaware or happy of her state. She could feel the anger piling up inside her. Her vampiric rage was dying to come out, to rend the beast that had harmed her friend and servant. But the beast was nowhere to be seen. It hid behind her best friend.

She cleared her throat with a single cough then glared at the possessed Patchouli. "Quite a lot has happened during my short nap it seems." She said. She took a glance at the black book Max held then turned her attention back to the magician. "I think it would be safe for me to say that this is what you wanted; this book that possesses a dreadful aura."

"Indeed, young vampire. Indeed it is." Patchouli said happily.

"I can promise you that you will never have it. It is now forever loss to you." Remilia said.

The mage chuckled nefariously. "Come now, Miss Scarlet. Don't say such rash things. That book is nothing you could possibly comprehend… Without help, that is." She said. "I would be more than happy to read you the dark passages it contains. I am sure you will find them… quite beautifully written."

"I am sure it is, to a monstrous Horror such as yourself. But as I already have said, you will not be reading anything from this book, or any book here in this library. You have overstayed your welcome, Horror." Remilia said as she narrowed her eyes at her possessed friend. "I will give you just one chance to leave my mansion as well as this world. Go back to whatever void you crawled out of and stay there. Stay there and never return."

All three of the possessed Patchouli's mouths grinned creepily. "I am afraid I will have to refuse. I shall remain here so that I can watch as all of your hopes crumble into despair." She said.

Remilia huffed. With the flick of her wrist, a spear made from her vampiric aura took shape in her hand. "So be it then. I am well rested and have more than enough energy I need to destroy you." She said.

The possessed Patchouli nodded. "As I expected from you, young Remilia. It is you who I want to watch the stars vanish with me, after all. It is you who I wish to see this world shatter more than anyone." She said cruelly.

"_Vanishing stars?"_ Remilia thought fearfully. She twirled her spear around then pointed the blade at her possessed friend. "You will not live long enough to see such things, beast, for your crime for invading my home and harming those dear to me shall be death."

The possessed girl fell into maniacal laughter, stopping only after forcing herself to. "Suh-Such stubborn creatures… You… You earthly creatures are by far my most favorite." She said. "Allow me… to formally introduce myself to you, Miss… Remilia… Scarlet…"

The floor suddenly began to rumble, forcing Remilia, Max and Sakuya to their defenses. They looked around warily. They then felt a horrible presence approaching, and they quickly turned around when a dark shadow loomed over them.

Remilia gasped at the horrible sight, hunching over and covering her mouth once she felt something was trying to force itself up her throat from her stomach. Sakuya quickly started to pat her master on the back.

"Shake it off, Remilia. Shake it off." Max said to the ill stricken vampire.

With a face covered in sweat, Remilia got a hold of herself. She reluctantly faced the Cosmic Horror that leaned over one of the large bookcases from the other side, forced to take in all of its horrible visage.

The headless abomination placed a hand on top of the bookcase, sizzling yellow ichor from the hand's drooling mouth flowing down over it. "I am Y'golonac. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Miss Scarlet." It said with a gesture of respect, its disembodied voice echoing.

Remilia swallowed hard and forced herself to bear both the grotesque sight and noxious smell of the Depraved One. "So this is how you truly are, alien horror? Then I will pop you much like I did the other one. Prepare yourself!"

She jumped high into the air, took aim at the abominations bloated chest and threw her spear of energy. With a red flash, the spear flew the distance to the Horror in a near instant. The spear burrowed into the Horror's chest, exploding inside and unleashing a burst of hissing red and yellow liquid that flowed down the monster's body.

Y'golonac chuckled. "Such a testy vampire…" It said as the hole in its chest bubbled and sizzled.

Remilia grinned, her body quivering in anticipation of battle with the nightmarish monster. "That little nap has left me with much energy to expend. Can you handle it all, Depraved One?"

Y'golonac curled its fingers, beckoning Remilia to it. "Come to me, foolish creature. Let me take all of your hope and turn it into despair. A deathwish will be all that remains in your vampiric heart once our dance has come to an end."

Max and Sakuya watched as Remilia went on the offensive with the monstrosity. They both then turned their attention to the possessed Patchouli who 'stared' at them, grinning freakishly in silence.

Sakuya put on a stern expression and held out a dagger in each of her hands, taking a step towards the magician.

"Max. Please take Meiling and Alice to safety." Sakuya said.

"Miles ahead of you, maid girl." Max said as he lifted the unconscious Alice and placed her over his shoulder. "You two hold them off for as long as you have to. I'll try to think up something to get rid of the fat bastard."

"Don't hurt yourself." Sakuya jibed.

"Just don't die on me. I still want to play with those tits of yours." Max said.

"Good grief…" Sakuya muttered under her breath.

Sakuya began her deadly confrontation with the possessed Patchouli while her master, Remilia, took on the big fish: the abominable Depraved One, Y'golonac.

Y'golonac reached out with open arms, the freakish mouths on its hands biting and snapping out at the air mindlessly.

"Come, my children. Let us play till the Earth breaks apart beneath us." The Ancient One said, its otherworldly voice echoing out across Voile.


	20. Chapter 20 The Dance with Y'golonac

Remilia's glowing red eyes outshined the glow of her scarlet aura that burned wildly around her form. Her wings flapped behind her as she hovered in the air, splashing bits of her aura around. She held two spears tightly in each hand, both with crackling red sparks dancing around them. She took aim at Y'golonac's flappy breasts and threw a spear at each one. Each spear struck its mark, piercing the Horror's dead flesh and exploding inside it. Blood and yellow puss exploded out from the holes created by the spears. The floor around the abomination became a pool of the hideous liquids that hissed and bubbled.

Y'golonac laughed. "Impressive, vampire, but I hope that is not all that you can do." It said tauntingly.

Remilia grinned arrogantly. "Far from it." She said then pulled out a spell card. It burned up in red flames as she called its name. "Critical "Heart Break"!"

A large red spell circle appeared behind her, with several other, smaller circles appearing around the larger circle's edges. From the spell circles came a volley of spear-like projectiles. The numerous projectiles flew through the air towards their target at near-instant speeds, but they were suddenly slowed drastically. Remilia watched incredulously as her attack came to a near-stop in mid-air.

Y'golonac was muttering in a language of nightmares. Its words dimmed the light, twisted the space around it and drew blood from the ears of those the words were heard by. The thing then held up a hand, its mouth biting out in its mindless frenzy. Remilia's magic projectiles were then slowly sucked into the monstrous mouth where each one was gobbled up.

The Depraved One ended its alien chant and spoke. "A beautiful attack, Miss Vampire. I hope you do not mind if I use it as well." It said.

It put down its raised hand and raised its other hand. From that mouth was fired the same spear-like projectiles that the other hand had devoured. The only difference being that they were now of a sickly green color.

With a gasp of shock, Remilia tried to avoid the speeding projectiles, but they were much too fast for even her to avoid them all. One tore through her left wing, blasting it into ash that burned in sickly green flames. Two others crashed against her hardened aura, exploding on contact and rattling her mind. Another severed her right leg at the knee, lighting it up in dim green flames.

Remilia quickly shook off the traces of green fire from her body, allowing the parts she had lost to reform. She glared angrily at the monster that so easily turned her attack against her, but at the same time felt her power grow. Her fangs and wings grew larger as she slowly allowed her vampiric rage to leak out. She felt a slight frenzy coming over her, and she liked it. It was like an uplifting high, but a high that could easily cloud her judgment and turn against her if she wasn't careful.

"Midnight Sign "Bad Lady Scramble"!" She bellowed her next attack.

Remilia did a mid-air somersault backwards, landing on the side of the bookcase behind her and kicking off of it with a burst of energy, sending the bookcase falling to the floor. She went into a fierce spin, her red aura spinning rapidly around her.

With the clench of its fist, Y'golonac went to match Remilia's powerful attack with its own brute strength. It held its fist back, aimed at the incoming vampire and launched it forward.

Remilia and the Horror's fist collided, their collision releasing a blast of energy that caused space around them to ripple and distort. Y'golonac's hand exploded into a shower of burning dead flesh and sizzling red blood. Remilia was blown backwards from the impact of the thrown fist and crashed into a bookcase.

Remilia pushed herself out and fell to the floor feet first. The second her toes touched the cracked marble, she took off with her vampiric speed, breaking through another bookcase while leaving shrieking afterimages in her wake. Once she got close to the abominable horror, she leaped and went into another spiral. She crashed into the monster's bloated stomach. She tried to drill through the Horror's thick flesh, but was bounced away instead. She hit the ground hard then bounced back to her feet, skidding to a halt.

She spat blood off to the side. "Blasted thing." She cursed.

Remilia let herself drift further into a frenzy, her mind beginning to fog up, her senses jumbled yet sharper. She took off again towards the abomination, her extended blade-like nails out at her sides. With a vampiric roar, she leaped up at the creature and swiped one of her claws horizontally across its chest. With her other claw she slashed down its chest and to its oversized gut. Her claw marks left what looked like a red cross on the monster's front side that bled its eerie blood. She landed back on the floor, formed a red spear then leaped back into the air. She took her newly formed spear then jammed it into the center of its chest. She broke off the blade of the spear, leaving it embedded in the abomination's chest. She fell to the ground, leaped back several times then snapped her fingers. The blade in the Horror's chest exploded, sending down a torrent of bubbling blood to the floor.

Remilia growled in frustration as she watched all of the extensive damage the Horror had taken heal in a matter of seconds. Its blood seemed to flow back into its body, with the flesh sowing itself back up. Its hand reformed itself out of its own flesh, snarling mouth and all. Her morale took a direct hit from the utterly aggravating sight.

Y'golonac let out a short, disturbing chuckle. "My… You vampires can dish out a lot of power. But how much can your immortal bodies take, I wonder?" It said as it raised its hands up, mouths out.

Both of its mouths echoed chilling words, words that caused the very light in the library to quiver in fear. A stab of pain struck Remilia in the chest, nearly bringing her to her knees, but she resisted. What nearly got her though, was the sudden shriveling of her skin on her arm.

The dark words of the abomination was draining her of her immortality, drawing it into the monstrous mouths on its hands. She clenched her teeth and immediately went back onto the attack to put an end to its alien curse.

Remilia formed a spear then took off into the air towards the monster. She went to slash down its middle, but one of its hands snagged her in mid-air. The Horror immediately clenched its fist to crush the vampire, but she quickly called out a spell card.

"Scarlet Sign "Red the Nightless Castle"!" Remilia shouted.

A burning red cross erupted from the center of Y'golonac's clenched fist, causing it to explode in scarlet fire and setting Remilia free. She tried again to slash the abomination with her spear, but it got a hold of her legs with its other hand. It whipped her around then slammed her into the floor, her body turning into a bloody smear.

A dazed Remilia reformed from the bloody mess. She held her pained head then shook it. She glared at the beast, a devilish hiss emitting from her mouth.

Y'golonac sat unhurt from the vampire's attacks as its mouths continued their terrible incantation. "Just how long… will you last, vampire? How long… before you are begging me for mercy?" It asked before going into a fit of dark laughter.

* * *

As Remilia continued her ever increasingly desperate fight, Max stood by watching from afar behind the corner of one of the bookcases, silently rooting for Remilia's success.

Max shielded his eyes when a flash of red light blanketed the sky. "Violence-induced boner. God, I love Gensokyo." He said as he watched the fight in stressful astonishment.

He jumped in surprise when something grabbed a hold of his ankle. "Jesus!" He exclaimed. He looked down at the floor to see a badly burned Marisa crawling on the floor, her left arm having taken the worst of it as it was almost completely seared, but it remained functional. "Marisa?! Oh, thank god you're alive!" He exclaimed as he reached down to pull the injured witch to her feet.

"Ow ow easy easy." Marisa said as she was pulled up. With a tired face, she forced a grin. "Yup. What? You thought that bastard had done me in? Pfft. Bitch, please, da ze." She said then coughed out smoke a few times.

Max grinned and ruffled her smoking hair. "Glad to hear he didn't fuck anything up in the inside as badly as he did to the outside." He said.

Another flash of red light in the sky got Marisa to look up. "And I'm glad to see that our little princess is awake. Hopefully she can end this quickly so I can go home and get some sleep… Think she can, ze?"

"Not a chance in hell." Max said, causing Marisa to instantly frown. He pulled the black book out from the bookcase then opened it up. "She's a dead girl if we don't do something quick." He said then started flipping through the black book's pages.

Marisa's eyes widened. "Really? You have that little confidence in her?" She asked.

"Y'golonac is toying with us. The asshole could kill us all quickly if he really wanted to, but that's just not how he rolls. We gotta take this chance to come up with something to make that arrogant fuck regret ever stepping foot in Gensokyo."

"Wow… I figured he was powerful, but…"

"You should have known that things like him were when I first showed up. But you should have also learned that we don't need to waste our energy trying to destroy them."

"We don't?"

"No." Max said, impatience making its appearance in his expression as he went through the book's pages in haste. "We just need to blast that fat ass into another dimension. One where he won't be able to get back from any time soon. Now, if I could just find something in this piece of shit book that can help us do just that then we could get the ball roll'n."

Marisa took a glance at the pages as Max raced through them. "So this creepy book is a spell book?" She asked, only to have her face pushed away by Max. "Hey!" She protested.

"Don't look at it." Max ordered.

"It's not like I can read a word of that gibberish." Marisa said with a pout.

"Just because you can't read it doesn't mean it won't try reading itself to you."

Marisa's eyes widened. She was already interested in the mysterious book and now she was uncontrollably so. "Wow! That's so cool!" She said in excitement.

"No, it fucking ain't." Max said harshly, shooting down Marisa's excitement. He sighed in aggravation. "If I could kill the Arab prick that wrote this thing I would…"

"What kind of things does it have in it?" Marisa asked curiously.

"Don't worry about what's in it." Max said assertively. Once he came to a particular page, he froze.

Marisa took notice of his seemingly bewitched stare. "You find something?"

Max nodded. "Oh yeah… This will do. Now, uh… I'm gonna need your help with this."

"Well, you know I'm ready to lend a hand. As long as it isn't too physical. I'm still hurting here, ze."

"Look at this page and this page only." Max said then handed the book to Marisa who gladly took it. "That's some kind of spell, right? I need you to cast that thing on Y'golonac's sorry ass."

"Hmm…" Marisa tilted her head as she studied the odd symbols and glyphs on the page. "It's definitely a spell. This here is a picture of a spell circle as well as all of these. We would need to start by drawing them."

"I can't even draw a fucking stick figure and you want me to draw that shit?!" Max exclaimed despondently.

"Ah, it ain't that hard." Marisa assured.

"That looks like something mother fucking Picasso would draw."

"Well, since you're not a mage... I guess it would look complicated, huh?" Marisa said with a giggle. "Where's Alice? I can get her to help me with it."

"The dumb bitch is out cold."

"Great, ze…" Marisa said with the roll of her eyes, a bit of confidence leaving her. "Guess I'll be drawing it myself then."

"Awesome. Hop to it." Max said.

"It's not that simple, Max. I also need a power source. And a powerful one at that, going by all the many different spell circles that make up the spell. My mini-Hakkero won't do."

"Then where in hell do we get a strong enough power source for this hocus pocus?" Max asked.

A sudden explosion shook the ground underneath Max and Marisa. They held onto each other to keep from falling. Another explosion blew a hole in one of the bookcases, making a path to the aisle they were in. From the hole appeared Sakuya, who stopped to toss a volley of knives at her pursuer before taking off again. From the same hole appeared the possessed Patchouli. The possessed girl was laughing insanely, launching great fireballs one after another at the fleeing maid.

Marisa spotted the stone that floated in the magician's hand. "That! I need that!" She said as she pointed at the stone.

"The hell is it?" Max asked.

"Patchouli's Philosopher's Stone, da ze. That baby can power some really complex spells."

"Fanfuckingtastic. Now, how do we get it from her?"

"Easy. You and Sakuya distract her and I'll snatch it from right under her nose." Marisa said with a confident smile and a thumbs up.

Max looked over to where Sakuya and the possessed Patchouli were fighting then let out a depressing groan. "My pubes are gonna get singed." He said then earned a smack across the back of the head. "Ow! What the fu-"

"How do you think I feel?!" Marisa shouted at him, causing him to jump in surprise. "Now let's get going before it's too late." She said.

"I'm on it." Max said.

Max took off sprinting down the hallway towards the ongoing fight while Marisa stood and plotted her direction of attack.

Sakuya, meanwhile, was dodging fireballs left and right. She threw knives each chance she got, but most of her energy was spent on just avoiding the hordes of fireballs the possessed Patchouli was attacking her with.

Sakuya vanished from sight seconds before a fireball was about to hit her. She appeared in another location, only to take a fireball in the back. She cried out from the painful impact, but endured it. Panting, she tried to push the pain her back was in to the side as she glared at the cackling mage.

The possessed magician licked her inhuman lips. "Mmm, yes. I think I will cook the meat this time around. See how that fancies me." She said.

"Sick freak…" Sakuya said under her breath as she pulled out a knife. Her eyes widened when Max appeared in front of her. "Eh?! What are you doing here, you fool? Get out of here!"

Max looked over his shoulder at Sakuya and winked. "Saving that sweet behind of yours." He said.

Sakuya took the knife in her hand and pretended to stab Max in the back a few times. It felt kind of good imagining it. How good it would feel to actually do it would surely be satisfying, she thought.

The possessed Patchouli laughed, drops of yellow ichor flying out from her mouth. "Not patient enough to wait your turn eh, Harbinger?" She asked.

With his eyes glued to the possessed girl in front of him, he whispered over his shoulder to Sakuya. "Hey. We need that stone she's holding."

"What? Why?" Sakuya asked.

"For fuck sake, don't ask questions." Max urged strenuously.

"Alright, fine." Sakuya said grudgingly then pulled out a spell card.

The possessed girl tutted as she waved a finger in the air. "Now now, my children. Do not argue. It is I who decides who is to be devoured next in the end." She said.

"Go fuck yourself." Max said as he put up a middle finger.

"Love Sign "Master Spark"!" Marisa's voice bellowed from above.

The possessed Patchouli looked up curiously. From directly above her was a beam of light that radiated many different colors coming her way. The magician gasped in surprise, only for a heinous grin to form a second later.

"So you survived the fire? Good! Good! I want you all to last as long as you possibly can! Last until the stars themselves begin screaming along with you!" The possessed girl shrieked in distorted excitement.

She easily dodged to the side, avoiding the beam itself but being engulfed in the cloud of smoke and dust the beam created upon striking the ground. The girl looked around eagerly through the smoke.

"Speed Sign "Luminous Ricochet"!" Sakuya shouted out loud.

The possessed Patchouli listened curiously to the sound of metal hitting stone and wood in quick session. The sound got louder and louder until a loud ting was heard. She looked to her left hand to find that her Philosopher's Stone was no longer there. The alien mouths on her hands and face frowned.

"Aw… Why did you go and do that for, little Sakuya? Now I'm going to have to take your organs out while you are awake and put the parts into jars as punishment." She said casually.

Once the smoke cleared, Sakuya was the only one standing before the possessed magician, a knife in both hands.

"If you can get me to be still then I will take that punishment." She said.

"You spoil me." The possessed Patchouli said with a wicked grin then pulled out a spell card. "Fire Sign "Akiba Summer"."

From both of her hands appeared a whip made from pure fire. She cracked one in the air, creating a small explosion of flames. She spun one of the fire whips above her head and took aim at the maid.

"Will you be just as capable surviving the flames as little Marisa was, little Sakuya? Or will only scorched bones remain of you?" She asked then attacked with her whips of fire.

Sakuya vanished, the whip of fire striking the floor where she once stood, setting it ablaze. Several knives appeared out of thin air and flew towards Patchouli. With a single swipe of one of her whips and the knives were melted in mid-air.

Sakuya reappeared behind the possessed girl, a knife in hand. With both hands, she thrusted the blade forward. The knife impaled the magician in the center of her back, severing the spine. She was in the middle of silently apologizing to her possessed friend when, to her surprise, the possessed girl vanished, leaving behind a black cloud that slowly dissipated.

Another black cloud formed behind Sakuya that dissipated soon after, leaving a grinning Patchouli in its place. "Behind you, my dear." The possessed mage said.

With a knife in hand, Sakuya turned on her heal. She swiped at Patchouli, missing when she ducked. The magician clenched her fist that then ignited in fire. She then performed an uppercut, striking Sakuya in the stomach. The blow set her on fire and into the air. A whip of fire curled around her, catching her in mid-air. She screamed as she burned, but was silenced when she was slammed into the marble floor.

Sakuya laid in fetal position in a smoldering hole in the floor, unmoving. The possessed Patchouli laughed cruelly at the fallen maid.

"Oh, dear. Was I… Was I too rough with her, I wonder? Pity… I only got one scream out of her." She said. She took a brisk look around in search of Max and Marisa as well as her Philospoher's Stone, but caught no sight of anyone or anything. "Now, where did those two go? Off to plan something for me?" She grinned then shuddered in anticipation. "Oh, I wonder what it is?! May as well go and find out…"

The possessed Patchouli made her way down the aisle, her horrific grin ever present. She came to a stop when a knife flew past her. Not surprised, she turned around to find Sakuya standing.

Sakuya's clothes were still burning as she stood glaring at the possessed magician. In her hands were knives, whose handles were hot to touch, burning her skin, yet she kept a tight grip on them regardless.

Patchouli placed a hand on her hip and tiled her head. "Oh? You… You wish to… to continue? Not a very wise choice, child. I was kindly giving you… the chance to recuperate while I went to go play… play with those other two. You should have taken that kind offer."

Sakuya's legs were shaking under her from the burning pain, but they did their part in keeping her up. "You dare think I am finished? I… I would not be the Chief Maid of this mansion… if I could be taken out so easily, monster." She said as she panted.

The possessed magician let out a low, dark chuckle. "Determined, aren't you? Good… Good… But I hope you are determined to defeat me and not determined… to buy those two time for whatever little plan they have. I can assure you… that it will… not… work…"

"Overconfidence will be your downfall, monster." Sakuya said as she tightened her grip on her knives.

"Oh, it's not confidence, my child. It's already knowing. Already knowing that this world's time will soon be up."

"I don't think so, fiend. We'll do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening. Even if we have to keep rewinding time just to avoid it. You will not get what you want." Sakuya said.

The possessed Patchouli's grin grew to sickening size. "That is good to hear… I can only hope… for your success. If you wish to… prolong your own suffering then who am I to stop you?" She said before falling into a fit of insane laughter that echoed out into the library.

With the Philosopher's Stone in her hand, Marisa flew far from where Sakuya and the possessed Patchouli were. She landed softly then held up the magical stone and observed it with a toothy grin, feeling real good about herself at that moment.

"It's just as they say. Like taking candy from a baby, da ze." She said.

She turned around to see Max running towards her. He came to a stop then hunched over, his hands on his knees to support himself as he gasped for air.

Marisa tilted her head. "Why you look so tired?" She asked.

Max glared at her angrily. "You flew off too far and I had to run after your ass. That's why." He said waspishly.

Marisa laughed nervously. "Oh, sorry about that, ze."

"Alrighty then. We got the fucking thing. Now what?"

Marisa sat the stone down then looked in the black book. "Hmm… This spell is quite amazing, but very dangerous. I hope you know that, Max." She said.

"Yeah, I know."

"Seriously, this thing is some kind of dimensional distortion spell that could send everyone in the library to who knows where if we screw up the spell circle even slightly. I've watched Patchouli perform similar spells but they only went to somewhere else in the library and were smaller in comparison to this one."

"I really don't need a lesson in voodoo. I just need to know if you can pull it off."

"I can, but are you sure you want me to?" Marisa asked with uncertainty.

"I'm not, but I have no other ideas on how to get rid of the fat fuck."

"Oh jeez… Well, you can't live a life without taking risks so…" Marisa handed the book to Max then grabbed the Philosopher's Stone. "We'll need to make it somewhat close to him so we can just blast the bastard into it."

"The prick likes to sit a lot so try and make it behind him while he's busy dicking around with Remilia." Max suggested.

"Well then, let's get to it, my friend." Marisa said then turned around to make her way to where the Depraved One was. Before she could take a step forward, Max grabbed a hold of her butt and gave it a good squeeze. "Eeeek!" She yelped. She turned around, red faced. "Wha-What are you trying to do at a time like this?!" She asked in flustered panic.

"Just getting in one last grab in case this ends up being a complete bust." Max said plainly as he walked past Marisa.

Marisa puffed her cheeks at him as he walked by, grinned, then landed the palm of her hand on his behind hard, earning a cry of pain from him. She took off running down the aisle with an angry Max close behind her.

* * *

Y'golonac's haunting chant hung in the air, sapping Remilia of her immortal essence. Her skin had become wrinkly to the point she was actually beginning to look like an older woman. If she could see herself the way she was now she would most likely die from the shock, and if not from the shock then a silver knife through the chest would do the trick. Thankfully, the alien horror would not be allowing her to take a peek at any mirrors.

"The years are catching up to you, vampire." Y'golonac said as he swatted away a spear of aura that was thrown at him. "Given time, even Death will die."

Remilia threw another spear, forming another and throwing it, then another, then another. She machine-gunned spears in her desperate attempt to silence the Horror's mouths. But no matter what she did, even when she managed to destroy both hands, their chanting only ceased for a moment before they reformed, continuing on with their eldritch chant as if nothing happened.

Remilia grew increasingly frustrated. Her anger only served to replace the strength she was losing to the alien's chant. Every time she destroyed a part of the Horror just to watch it reform seconds later irritated her. She was beginning to think she would have to turn the otherworldly creature into goo in order to be rid of it, not that she wouldn't mind doing it, but it would take a great deal of time, time she didn't have.

"Glaring at me will not lead you to victory, my child." Y'golonac taunted.

Remilia sneered and pulled out a spell card. "Divine Punishment "Young Demon Lord"!" She declared.

A large spell card formed behind Remilia that unleashed a storm of blue beams of energy along with waves of blue circular danmaku. Y'golonac was bombarded by the beams and danmaku, his hands being sliced off by the beams. The hands fell to the floor, then, to Remilia's disturbance, got up on their fingers and began to crawl across the floor. They skittered around aimlessly for a few seconds before they each leaped onto separate bookcases, crawling up the sides towards the bewildered vampire.

Remilia aimed her spell at the vile hands. The hands leaped across the air to the opposite bookcase to dodge a wave of energy beams and danmaku. The left hand landed then immediately leaped again, forming into a fist as it flew towards Remilia. It punched through the wall of danmaku and split a beam in two as it struck it.

Remilia tried to concentrate her spell on the left hand flying towards her, but it was too fast and crashed into her, breaking her spell and sending her flying through the air. The right hand took to the air behind her, slapping her back towards the left hand. The left hand backhanded her, sending her spinning right back to the right hand. The two hands formed into fists then smashed into one another, crushing Remilia in between them.

The hands shook themselves of the crushed body of Remilia. Her body regenerated back into shape, a sneer present on her burning red face. A spear formed from her aura in front of her. She took it and waited for the vile hands to make their next move.

The left hand flew towards her, its palm out. The mouth let out a cringe-worthy roar, its pale tongue sticking out as it prepared to chomp down on the vampire and devourer her whole. Remilia dodged to the right, spun around as the left hand flew past her then threw her spear at it. The hand quickly turned around in time to consume the spear in one gulp.

Remilia cursed at the hand in her head. She then cried out when something impaled her from behind, blood spurting from her mouth. She looked down to see the blade of her own spear sticking out of her stomach. She clenched her fists in aggravation and turned around to face the right hand. Both hands then unleashed a high-pitch laugh that pained the ears.

The spear turned back into red aura before rematerializing in Remilia's hand, the hole in her stomach vanishing.

Y'golonac laughed along with its hands as they returned to it, reattaching themselves on its wrists. "My, my… You have certainly been a joy to play with, Miss Scarlet. I do hope… that you are as well. Tell me… that you have more hope in that vampiric heart of yours. I do not want you to give up… just yet…" It said.

Remilia said nothing, not wanting to entertain the Horror with words of a frustrated vampire. She cringed as the abomination's hands returned to chanting their evil incantation. She could feel her bones becoming feeble now.

Y'golonac shuddered in sick pleasure. "Oh, my… Seeing your distressed face… sends chills up my back. It is such a lovely face. But seeing that same face crying in misery… would be so much better." It said. "Hmm… What should I do to have you make such a face, I wonder? Please… If you have any ideas… let me know."

Remilia gritted her teeth and went to resume her attack, but stopped when she spotted two figures making their way to the back of the large abomination. "_Max? Marisa? What on Earth are they…?"_ She thought as she watched in confusion as they disappeared somewhere behind the Horror.

"If you wish not to speak to me then I understand, but if you will not make a move then I am afraid that I will have to." Y'golonac said.

The abomination tilted slightly forward. Blood boiled from the spot where its neck would have been. Gurgling sounds could be heard from it, and suddenly blood shot out from it that dispersed into rain droplets.

The aura around Remilia grew, providing her a shield from the shower of sizzling blood. The blood turned to vapor upon hitting her aura, and the vapors sickened her further.

She took her spear and threw it at the abomination, sending it down into where the blood shot out from. It dove into the pool of blood, exploding within the Horror and ending its blood spray.

Meanwhile, as Remilia continued her seemingly fruitless assault against Y'golonac, Max and Marisa were busy at work drawing a spell circle close behind the alien abomination. Max held the book up for Marisa while she drew the circles, both trying not to vomit from the nauseating stench that flooded their nostrils.

Marisa, having already vomited from seeing the Depraved One, was wiping her mouth on her arm as she tried to concentrate on drawing. "Guh… I think… I think I'm gonna throw up again, ze…" She said, her face pale.

"Go ahead. But you throw up on me again then I'm hitting you with this book." Max warned.

"I really hope you are sure about this." Marisa said.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Worst case scenario: we end up getting sucked into another dimension where our minds will explode from the effects of said dimension." Max said plainly.

"Not. Funny."

"Just hurry up before asshole here decides to lay down to take a nap and crush us."

"I can't hurry this, Max." Marisa said. The writing chalk she was using to draw broke. She grumbled irritably then grabbed another chalk from her pocket. "Doing this by myself is really hard, y'know."

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance?" Someone said from behind them.

They turned around to see a sick looking Koakuma; a very sick looking Koakuma. Her face looked like it had a hint of green in it and her eyes lacked any light in them.

Marisa's eyes widened in excited surprise. "Koa! Thank goodness you're here, but um…" Her excited expression faded when she took notice of Koakuma's sickly expression. "You… You look, um…"

"You look like shit." Max said honestly.

Koakuma slowly nodded. "Yes… I vomited about… um…" She started counting her fingers on one hand. She gave up when she counted all five fingers, sighing depressingly.

"Yeah, he's an ugly bastard." Max said.

"Get over here and get to draw'n." Marisa ordered as she handed Koakuma some chalk.

Koakuma took the chalk, looked at them, then narrowed her eyes at Marisa. "Miss Marisa… These belong to Lady Patchouli." She said. Her eyes then widened upon remembrance of her master's predicament. "Lady Patchouli! Is Lady Patchouli okay?!"

"Nope. She's in worse shape than the last time you saw her, actually." Max said bluntly.

"Max!" Marisa yelled at Max, and he looked at her, wondering what it was he did wrong.

A gloomy expression appeared on Koakuma's face. "Goodness…" She sighed in distraught.

"No time to be moping around, Koa. Help me make this thing." Marisa urged.

Koakuma approached Max then took a look at the page. She studied the symbols on it. She paled up once she recognized the kind of spell it was.

"Now wait a minute! You're not going to cast a spell of that caliber inside Voile are you?!" She asked loudly. Max and Marisa nodded at her and her face turned to shock. "N-No! No, you can't! It's too dangerous to cast a spell like this! We could all end up in some other world!"

"We have to get rid of tub-of-lard here somehow. So unless you have a better way of doing it then we're doing it this way. Remilia won't last forever." Max said.

"Oh, dear…" Koakuma groaned.

"Come on, Koa. Help me do this right. I feel better about this now that you're here to help with it, ze." Marisa said with a smile to cheer Koakuma up.

Koakuma hesitated for a moment, but with a reluctant nod, she got to work on the spell circle with Marisa. "If getting rid of that… that thing will free Lady Patchouli then I'm willing to risk anything. Even being trapped in another plane of existence." She said with a face filled with determination.

"How about we just do this right so none of us other than our big friend here gets trapped in some other dimension?" Marisa said.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Max said.

"Of course." Koakuma said.

As the three raced to finish creating the spell circle for their spell, Remilia continued on with her fight, a fight that had long turned against her. The dark spell of the Depraved One had taken its toll on her. She had become tired and feeble, her mind fragile. She was struggling to get air into her lungs and her wings twitched weakly behind her. Every time she would look at her arm she would nearly shed a tear. Seeing her skin so old and wrinkly hurt her more than any material weapon could. She prayed no one would see her the way she was now. And she prayed that whatever it was that Max and Marisa were doing would silence the abomination once and for all before she became nothing more than a pile of dust and brittle bones.

Y'golonac watched the time-burdened vampire in hungry anticipation. "My little vampire. My dear, little vampire. Is our dance nearing its end? But that cannot be. There are still so many stars in the sky. None of them have yet to vanish. Please, my dear. Do not throw in the towel just yet. At least last until you hear the beating of those hellish drums. You can do that, can you not?"

Remilia glared at the abomination with a stern expression. She folded her arms across her chest then huffed at the Horror in a show of defiance. "Hellish drums, you say? Why don't you enlighten me on what it is that you are waiting for in detail, Depraved One?" She asked. She gritted her teeth in irritation when the Ancient One burst out into laughter.

"And destroy what hope you have in an instant? No, Miss Scarlet. I could not do that. You have done so well only to have your very being destroyed so quickly. Please… Wait as I have. Wait and see what the fate of this world is. Wait… Wait and see that everything you have done in your pitiful little existence has been all for not." It said.

"Hmph. Fate of the world? If that fate is for this world to be destroyed anytime soon then I will have to change that." Remilia said.

"You cannot change what has been set in stone, child."

"I decide what is and what is not set in stone!" Remilia bellowed. She raised her hand in the air, her palm facing the heavens. In her palm floated a spell card. "Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir"!" She cried out.

The spell card burst into magical flames, burning up completely in an instant. Its magical energy transformed into a large, grand red spear. It grew in size as Remilia added more of her energy to it, amplifying the weapon's great power further. Once it grew to several times its original size, she took the spear by the handle then flew towards the eldritch abomination. She swung the giant blade down upon the creature in an attempt to slice it in two.

Y'golonac reached up with both hands and caught the blade mid-swing. The force of the swing traveled down the form of the Horror, striking the floor and sending numerous cracks out in every direction. Grunts were heard from the Horror as it seemed to struggle with the blade.

Remilia pressed down on the spear's handle with all of the strength that had yet to abandon her. Her teeth were clenched hard and blood dripped from her nose. She heard a sigh then that came from the abomination.

"I must say… I am… I little disappointed." The Depraved On said.

Remilia gritted her teeth in further anger. She didn't care how the Horror felt, but she still felt insulted by the monster's words.

"I was expecting more from a vampire… But perhaps this is all I can get? Maybe I had overestimated you… Such… a shame…" It said glumly.

Remilia's fury could be seen burning in her scarlet eyes. "How dare you…" She said under here burning breath.

"All I wished… was to watch the stars vanish with you. Watching as all of the hope in your eyes died and faded away…" Y'golonac said woefully. "There is always your friends, but I have a distinct feeling that they will not be as enjoyable to watch when the end comes as you would of been. But alas… I will have to devourer you if you can no longer continue to dance with me."

Remilia felt as if her face was being stepped and spitted on by the abomination, walking away and forgetting she existed once it was done. She grinded her teeth to the point of breaking. She pushed down on the spear's handle harder, but what happened was a tear rolling from one of her eyes.

"Why… Why are they so damn powerful…?" She asked, another tear appearing then rolling down her wrinkled cheek.

With the squeeze of its vile hands, Y'golonac shattered the mighty spear like glass, the pieces flying out and dissipating into nothing. Remilia fell forward when the handle vanished from her hands. She hit the marble floor face first. She tried to immediately get back up, but her legs had become incredibly weak. She desperately tried to push herself up onto her legs, but they failed her. Her small body had shriveled up. No longer did she look like a young, healthy girl. She was nothing more than a small, wrinkly old woman composed of nothing but dried up skin and bones. Her tears were the only thing showing her to still be alive.

Those tears only made Y'golonac that much closer to eating her in monstrous fashion. "It hurts to fail. I know. But do not worry. Your existence will not end here… You will toil forever within the pit of my stomach. A fitting end for a creature who thought to go against the will of the Outer Gods." It said then fell into a dark, cruel laugh.

Remilia curled up into a ball and quivered. She shut her eyes and covered her ears. She refused to give up, but her body was no longer of use to her. She had nothing but her thoughts and those were drowned out by the monsters laugh. Its laugh squeezed her crippled fighting spirit. It even kept her from hearing her own cries for help. The cruel laugh of the eldritch abomination pounded on her wall of pride and tormented her.

Suddenly, the laughing ceased. She opened her eyes then slowly looked up. In front of her stood Max, who looked down at her with a look of indifference.

"There you are, Harbinger. You are not going to do what I think you are going to do. Are you boy? You would not be saving anyone by doing that." Y'golonac said then laughed again.

Remilia quickly covered her face. "D-Don't… Don't look at me… I look awful, so please don't… Look away…" She begged in a dry voice.

Max looked at her in amazement. "Jesus… You still manage look pretty…" He said with a slight blush.

Remilia kept her face covered, but she blushed underneath. "Don't be mean to me. P-Please… don't…"

"I'm not being mean." Max said with a sigh. "Do I seriously need to kick you in the face every time you fall for one of their mind tricks? I will if I have to, but I'd rather not." He reached down, grabbed Remilia by the arm and forced her to her feet. "Get up and stay up." He ordered.

Remilia used Max to keep herself on her feet. She reached for her cap to pull it over her wrinkly face, but found it not to be there. "Stop looking at me… I'm not pretty anymore…" She said weakly.

"Will you cut that out? You look fine now get your game face on. This shit ain't over yet." Max said as he placed a gentle hand on the top of Remilia's head. He then glared at the laughing, horrible monster.

"On the contrary, Harbinger. It has been over for quite some time now." Y'golonac said. "But do not fret, my children. You all have your own place in existence. That place just so happens to be in my stomach!" The Horror said then unleashed another wave of cruel laughter.

As the abominable horror laughed to its twisted glee, Marisa and Koakuma were just finishing putting on the last few touches of the spell circle. Knowing that time was about out, they quickly, but carefully, finished one last symbol.

"Done!" Marisa declared, her face filled with excitement.

Koakuma sighed, glad that the tiring work was over. "What will we use to power it, Miss Marisa?" She asked. When she was shown her master's Philosopher's Stone, she narrowed her eyes at Marisa.

"I took it with good reason. Now stop looking at me like that. Jeez…" Marisa said with a sigh.

She took the magical stone and walked to the middle of the spell circle. She held it out in front of her then gently released it. The magical stone caught itself in the air, floating in place. Marisa and Koakuma quickly took their places outside the spell circle as the stone's glow brightened, watching in wonder and anticipation.

The Philosopher's Stone gave off a bright blue light, basking everything around it with a blue hue. Its power flowed out in the form of a sparkling blue mist. Once the mist hit the floor, the spell circle glowed blue.

Marisa and Koakuma both sighed, relieved that nothing had exploded yet.

"Okay, now what?" Marisa asked.

Koakuma took the black book and studied the words on the page. "Hm… I think we need to activate it somehow. There might be a verbal component for the spell, but I can't read any of this strange language. It looks like some old form of Arabic, but there's symbols mixed in that doesn't even remotely look like Arabic or any other language that I'm familiar with. The words I think I know… don't make any sense." She said.

Marisa let out a loud disgruntled sigh. "That's just great. Max might know, but that worry-wart ran to help Remilia."

"Then what are we supposed to-"

Before Koakuma could finish her sentence, the many circles that made up the entire spell circle started to spin. They all spun in their own direction. Some spun fast, others slow. A wind then was created that spiraled around the Philosopher's Stone.

Marisa and Koakuma both felt a slight tug. They looked down at themselves to see their clothes being pulled towards the center of the spell circle. They looked at one another, instantly knowing what the other one was thinking thanks to the concerned expressions they both had.

"It… activated on its own…?" Marisa asked in confusion.

"I don't know how, but we should just go, Miss Marisa." Koakuma said.

"Right behind you, ze!"

They got ready to take off, but were frozen still by the Horror's chilling laugh that was eerily directed towards them.

"So… What is it that you two were doing back there? A spell circle? My, my… Let me take a closer look at your little creation…" Y'golonac said.

Marisa and Koakuma felt a sudden, stronger pull from the spell circle. They both freaked out then took off running to the front of the abomination. As they fast approached Remilia and Max, Koakuma gasped upon seeing Remilia's state while Marisa nearly burst out into a laugh, only being stopped by the menacing look and fist Max was showing her.

"Lady Remilia, what happened?" Koakuma asked.

"And here I was thinking you'd be seeing me like that first, da ze." Marisa said.

The embarrassed Remilia buried her face in Max's shirt. "Don't look at me. That's an order…" She said quietly.

"Did you get that voodoo spell working?" Max asked.

"Yup! She's purr'n like a kitten! I think…" Marisa said.

"What the fuck you mean you think?!" Max exclaimed loudly.

"Wh-What spell? What were you doing… b-back there?" Remilia asked.

Y'golonac's terrible laugh grabbed the group by their hearts. "Is this what your plan was? Sending me off to another dimension? And what is this…? The dimension in question… is the dreaded Void… My, my… You children are full of surprises."

Remilia's heart skipped a beat. "Th-The Void?"

"A nice idea, I will say. But it was poorly executed." Y'golonac said then chuckled. "Did you honestly think I would let myself be dragged away to another place? I have waited for far too long to miss out on this world's fated end."

Sweat was rolling down Max's face as he tried to look calm and not as terrified as he was. "Why ain't it working?" He asked strenuously.

"It's still powering up. Give it a sec, ze." Marisa said.

The wind around the Philosopher's Stone intensified. Suddenly, a howling blackness materialized all around it, consuming it completely. The shapeless mass of blackness expanded, and then suddenly collapsed on itself, transforming into a large black globe that spun rapidly on its axis. The wind turned violent and the gravitational pull became powerfully. Books and loose marble from the floor started to be sucked into the spinning globe, disappearing into it. Horrible noises that came from the black globe could be heard among the roaring wind.

Max quickly grabbed a hold of Remilia then jumped behind one of the toppled bookcases. Marisa and Koakuma both followed them. They all braced themselves as the wind and pull became stronger and stronger as the seconds past.

"God damn it. You two need to try and knock that bastard into that dimensional rift." Max said to Marisa and Koakuma.

Marisa sighed exhaustively, still badly drained but knowing someone had to get the job done. "Give me a minute…"

"We don't have a minute!" Max shouted.

Y'golonac shuffled to the side, fully exposing the dimensional rift's deadly pull to the group. It braced itself as the gravitational pull strengthened. It struggled to contain its hysterical laughter.

"A very foolish decision, my children! Now one of you shall be forever banished to the Void while I gorge upon the rest of you!" It shouted. "And who will be our lucky winner? Why, Miss Patchouli Knowledge, of course!"

From the green fog came the possessed Patchouli, her clothes ruined, stained with blood and barely staying on her. Koakuma's eyes swelled from seeing her master's desecrated face. The possessed Magician shuffled towards the spinning globe without any signs of stopping.

Koakuma stood up and reached out for her master. "No, Lady Patchouli! Please stop! Please!" She called out for her master then quickly ran to stop her.

"No, Koa!" Marisa cried out.

"Get back here, you good-looking bitch!" Max yelled.

"She was a very good servant so it is only fair for her to get the one way ticket to the Void. Of course for those who cannot hold on for long may join her if they please. Personally, I think I will remain here. Somebody needs to remain to document the end of this world!" Y'golonac said then continued on with its insane laughing.

Koakuma grabbed a hold of the bewitched Patchouli and pulled at her arm. "Lady Patchouli, please snap out of it!" She shouted.

The spinning globe slowly expanded in size. Its pull increased further in power in an instant, pulling both Koakuma and her master off their feet. Koakuma cried out as they were both pulled across the floor towards the gate way to the Void.

"Oh hell nah!" Marisa exclaimed as she got up then leaped towards the two. She reached out for Koakuma, grabbing her hand before she and Patchouli could be pulled out of reach. But she too was being dragged towards the spinning globe along with them. "Oh hell nah!" She shouted fearfully.

"You bitches ain't going anywhere!" Max yelled as he got up and jumped for Marisa, snagging her by her hair.

Tears appeared in Marisa's eyes from the painful jerk of her hair. "Not the hair!" She cried out.

Max was being pulled along with the other three girls towards the dimensional gate, but was stopped when he was grabbed by the ankle. He looked back to see Remilia holding onto him with one hand and holding onto the bookcase, determined not to let them go. Her grip was shaky, but firm.

Y'golonac ceased its laughing to speak once more. "Miss Remilia Scarlet, you surprise me! You still have some fight left in you?! Good! Now hold onto your friends with all of your power for their very souls depend on it!" It bellowed.

The pull of the dimensional rift increased further in power, lifting the group off the ground. They screamed as they swung around wildly in the air. Remilia bit her fangs into the side of the bookcase to provide her with an extra grip, but Max's ankle was beginning to slip out of her hand. She bit harder and prayed to any benevolent being that was listening to help them before they became damned to an extra-dimensional universe.

Her hopes shattered to pieces once the bookcase she was holding onto broke into planks. Everything around her became silent. No raging wind, no screaming of the others, no laughing of the Depraved One, nothing. Everything slowed around her as she and her friends were dragged towards the infinite black globe. She could see the otherworldly stellar lights of the Void on the other side, and she watched helplessly as those lights drew closer. One last time she screamed inside her head for someone to save them, and this time she was answered.

For a brief moment, everything around Remilia stopped. She and her friends remained suspended in the air, along with busted up wood, books and broken marble. Before Remilia stood a robed man who came seemingly out of nowhere. He stood in silence, looking at her from behind his hood-covered face. One look at the man's nefarious grin made it feel like her vampiric pride had just been finished off and kicked to the side.

Time resumed for Remilia, and the robed man caught her with one arm around her waist. Even with the ever intensifying gravitational pull, the man seemed completely impervious to it for he stood casually without any signs of struggling. Remilia wished to yell at the man for holding her, but was obviously not in the situation to do so. She continued to hold tightly onto Max's ankle with both of her hands.

Max looked back to see who had stopped them from flying into the dimensional rift and was immediately filled with rage. "Joseph! You son of a bitch!" He yelled.

Y'golonac fell silent upon seeing the robed man. "What is this? Another creature? In this library? Curious how you managed to avoid my detection within my fog." It said.

Joseph looked over his shoulder, showing his grin to the abomination. "It was simple, Old One. Both I and my new little friend were able to move about while staying in your blind spot called arrogance." He said coolly.

"What? Little friend? Who do you speak of?" Y'golonac said assertively, a hint of surprise in its dark voice.

"Lavatein!" A girl's voice boomed from not too far away.

Joseph moved his gaze back forward. "Her, of course." He said plainly.

Before the Depraved One could react to the sudden explosion of power felt from a distance, a large chaotic red beam came blasting out from the green fog, blowing the fog away. It rattled the very air around it as it traveled, making anything nearby unable to withstand its destructive power crumble to dust. The powerful beam smashed into the abominable Horror, unleashing an explosion of devastation. The force of the blast knocked the giant alien being back, knocking it over and into the spiraling black globe.

"What?! No! Nooooo!" Y'golonac howled as it was sucked into the dimensional gate, its dead flesh immediately being torn apart and ate piece by piece.

It struggled fiercely to pull itself away, its nails digging into the marble floor, but the gate's pull continued to grow stronger even as it sucked in the Horror's massive form. Where ever it grabbed came apart and flew into the black globe.

"Noooo! I did not wait this long just to miss this world's end! I did not! I will not!" The Depraved One's furious howls echoed across the library as its body was sucked further into the gate.

The possessed Patchouli looked back at the others with an angry scowl. "If I am to be dragged to another dimension… THEN YOU SHALL ALL JOIN ME!" She screamed.

The possessed Patchouli held out her hand towards the group, the mouth of the hand growling furiously. A small ball of fire formed and started to grow. Drops of sweat ran down the group's nervous faces as they braced themselves for the fiery attack, but the attack never came. Patchouli's hand was suddenly sliced off at the wrist by a flying knife.

"THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!" Y'golonac screamed. The entirety of the Depraved One was sucked into the dimensional rift save for its right hand whose mouth shrieked horribly. "YOU ACCURSED CREATURES! PRAY I DO NOT MAKE IT BACK BEFORE THIS WORLD IS DESTROYED! PRAY YOU NEVER HERE MY NAME EVER AGAAAIIIN!" The abominable Y'golonac screamed its last words, before finally the last of it disappeared into the black globe.

Once the Depraved One was sucked through the black globe, Joseph mumbled a few alien words. The spell circle reacted to his words and slowly began to lose power.

The globe's spin lost speed. The winds slowly died down and its gravitational pull ceased to exist. The black globe came to a stop then melted into nothingness, leaving behind the glowing Philosopher's Stone. The stone glowed dimly before it glowed no more, expended of its energy. It fell to the floor where the spell circle itself vanished from sight.

Joseph chuckled. "And that is why you should never play with your food."

Max, Marisa, Koakuma and Patchouli all fell to the floor with a loud thud. Koakuma didn't stay on the floor long and raced to her master's side. The monstrous mouth on her face was unmoving. It soon started to fade, leaving behind the magician's normal, but skinless, face.

Koakuma shook Patchouli hard. "Lady Patchouli! Lady Patchouli! Please say something!" She begged.

The magician remained silent, but her hand moved. It slowly went to the air and formed a thumbs up for a brief moment before falling back down to her side afterwards.

Koakuma lifted her master up into her lap and embraced her with a sigh of great relief. "Oh, thank goodness." She said.

Marisa looked to where the abomination once sat, blinking steadily as she computed in her head what had just happened. "Is… Is it over? It is over, right, ze?" She asked then slowly stood back up.

Remilia remained in Joseph's arms, her hands covering her face. "Don't look at. Don't let anyone see me." She demanded.

Joseph chuckled. "You will be high-strung to get me to stop looking at your beautiful face, Miss Scarlet." He said.

"I'm old! I'm old and wrinkly!" Remilia cried out.

"Look again, Miss Scarlet." Joseph said.

Reluctantly, Remilia uncovered her face. She looked at her hands, finding them to be as they should, no longer terribly wrinkled. She quickly felt her face, finding no trace of wrinkles.

Joseph gently placed her down on her feet. "See, my dear vampire? You look absolutely stunning- Guh!" Max silenced him with a jab to the face, sending him to the ground.

"Glad to see you back, asshole. Now I'ma rip your nuts off." Max said as he rolled up his sleeves in preparation for a fight.

Remilia grabbed Max by the hand. "Stop it, Max. He just saved us." She said. She really didn't want to say it out loud, but it had to be said.

A blond-haired girl with iron wings slowly descended to the floor. In her hand was an iron wand and on her face a cheerful smile. The girl in red gave her elder sister a curtsy bow.

"Hello, sister! What game are you playing?" Flandre asked. Remilia ran to her and embraced her tightly. A curious expression befell her face. "Sister?" Her cheeks went red when Remilia started to kiss her all over her face. "Wha-What has gotten into you, sister?!"

Remilia stopped her storm of kisses to speak. "I just want you to know, my dear sister, that I love you very much!" She said with a bright smile.

Though surprised, Flandre giggled at the out-of-the-blue declaration and returned the hug. "You're weird, Remi."

Max ran to the two vampires, wrapped his arms around both of them and lifted them up.

"Goodness gracious!" Remilia exclaimed as she had the air squeezed out of her.

"You pulled our asses out of the fire, Flany Flan! I completely forgive you for that stunt you pulled before!" Max said excitedly to Flandre.

Flandre giggled. "I'm not sure what you guys were up to, but I'm glad I-" Before she could finish her sentence, Max pushed his lips against hers, giving her a strong smooch. Her eyes shot wide open and her entire face went as red as her dress. "Hm!?"

An angry Remilia jabbed her sharp nails into Max's side, forcing his face away from her sister as he let out a strenuous groan of pain.

"Hands off!" Remilia yelled, being released by Max along with her sister a second later. He glared at her as he rubbed his sore side. She simply looked away with a huff.

Exhausted, Marisa took in a few deep breaths, brushed her messed up hair out of her face and put on a happy look. "Finally it's all over. But…" She looked around her in search for someone. "Where's Sakuya? She saved our butts too." She looked around some more, spotting Sakuya walking towards the group in a limp, burns everywhere.

"Present." Sakuya said exhaustively.

Marisa instantly felt sympathy for the badly burned maid. "Ah, there you are. Awesome last minute save there on your part too, da ze." She said then patted Sakuya on her shoulder. Sakuya winced from her burnt skin being touched so carelessly. Marisa quickly pulled her hand away. "Oops! Sorry!" She quickly apologized with a bow, earning only dagger-eyes from Sakuya.

"Yes. Good work, everyone." Remilia said.

She approached Koakuma and the unconscious Patchouli and crouched down next to them. Even though her best friend was still in very bad condition, with the skin of her face missing as well as a hand, it was hundreds of times better than the way she looked just moments before. She was just relieved that Patchouli was finally free of the Depraved One's hold and her mansion free from any presence of a Horror. She could have been much more relieved if only a certain someone had not shown up, but then again, if it wasn't for Joseph, she and her friends would be in the Void now, the denizens of that eldritch location tearing them apart. It was just that she was sure he did it only to belittle her. She pushed the feeling off to the side, thinking it pointless to think about now.

"It's over. It's finally over." Remilia said as she gently glided her fingers through Patchouli's hair.

Joseph started to chuckle and everyone turned to him to see him causally looking through the black book, breezing through page after page. Max cringed when he saw the book in his hands, his fists tightening at his side. Remilia grew nervous seeing the book in his hands, unsure what he was planning to do with it, if anything.

"Over, you say?" Joseph asked. After a brief read of the black book, he closed it. He then faced Remilia, his grin holding strong. "You know very well that isn't true… Remilia Scarlet…"


	21. Chapter 21 Time of Rest

Much of the magical library, Voile, was left a wreck after the banishment of Y'golonac, but the library wasn't the only place to look like it was hit by a hurricane. Parts of the Scarlet Mansion had been trashed by a certain challenge-seeking ice fairy. With everyone else preoccupied in the library, the rest of the mansion had become her playground. The fairy staff had tried to defend the mansion, but they ended up doing more damage than the intruder. The master of the mansion, her patience practically zero at the end of her battle with the eldritch abomination, quickly threw the intruder out and restored order.

The fight with Y'golonac had left many injured. Patchouli and Meiling were in very bad shape, prompting Remilia to force Alice to go to Eientei in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost to retrieve the Lunarian Pharmacist Eirin Yagokoro to the mansion to treat her friend and servant as well as Marisa and Sakuya who had also sustained extensive, but noncritical, injuries. Remilia chose Alice for the task as punishment for her attempt to kill Max and because she was the only one in good enough shape for the travel. Once Eirin, who brought along her assistant Reisen Udongein Inaba, arrived at the mansion, she and her assistant immediately got to work treating the injured, with some questioning on the side. Alice returned to her home after a short, but heated, argument with Remilia.

Everything was slowly returning to semi-normal within the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but how long that would last was yet to be seen, and possibly for the better.

After a brief fight with Joseph, Max had retired to his room to try to avoid being spotted by those still unaware of his revival and to get some much needed rest. He laid in his bed, pillow over his face and groaning from a headache caused by Joseph's mere existence in the mansion. He was so sure he could have snapped the robed man's neck if only Remilia hadn't decided to intervene. He pushed his anger to the side as much as he could in order to try and snooze a little while he still had the chance.

Max hadn't even remotely gotten close to falling asleep before hearing the sound of his door opening. He quickly pondered how he should hurt the person who had entered his room without so much as knocking, only to be interrupted when the intruder leaped onto his stomach. He instantly could tell the intruder was a small person and thus deemed it appropriate to simply break them in two like a wishbone. He got ready to do just that, but was stopped when he noticed it had become oddly cold all of a sudden.

"Psst. Daiyousei. I think this person is asleep," the girl who sat on top of Max said in a hushed voice.

"Then why are we sneaking in here?" another voice, this one sounding quite desperate but quiet, said. "Jeez, Cirno. We've gotten in enough trouble today so can't we please just leave?"

Now this presented a problem for Max. Getting rid of one intruder was fine; two was just going to be a pain in the ass. Then again, he could tie them both up and drown them in the lake. Sounded like a plan.

"Hmm…? That's weird. What's this bulge here?" the girl on top of him said.

Upon feeling a hand grabbing onto his groin, Max pulled the pillow off his angry face, sat up then wacked the girl with the pillow, sending her flying off of him and to the floor.

"The hell you think you're trying to grab, eh?!" Max shouted.

"Eeek! It's awake!" the other girl cried out in fright.

"It?" Max glared menacingly at the green haired girl who stood quivering at the door.

He took notice of the girl's wings then glanced down at the other girl he had just struck down, spotting a set of wings on her as well. He realized them both to be fairies, and this only pissed him off more. He got ready to lay a smack down on the two of them, but stopped when his eyes caught glimpse of the green-haired fairy's sizable chest.

"Wait a minute… I've met you before, haven't I?" Max asked.

The green-haired fairy, Daiyousei, quivered in fear, but stopped when she recognized the young man. She looked at him curiously and said, "You're… You're that one gentleman."

The other fairy, the blue-haired Cirno, got up to her feet rubbing her sore head. She puffed her cheeks at Max, but she gasped in surprise upon recognizing him.

"Hey! It's that one guy! Mork!" she exclaimed.

"It's Max, ya idiot," Max said.

"I'm not an idiot!" Cirno protested.

"Yeah, I remember you two now. I can't remember names to save my life, but I'll never forget a face," Max said, his eyes glued directly onto Daiyousei's chest.

"Didn't you die, Mister Max?" Daiyousei asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

Cirno jumped onto the bed and stood up straight, trying to tower over Max. She put one hand on her hip and pointed at him with the other and, with a toothy grin, said, "He did! But now he's back for round two with the strongest fairy! A man who can't accept defeat is no man at all!"

"There wasn't even a round one, ya numskull. Now get away from me before a deck ya right in the baby maker," Max said.

A curious expression befell Cirno. "Baby maker? Where's that?" she asked.

Max face-palmed. He felt another headache coming along and decided not to bother trying to explain.

Max's little reunion with the fairy duo was interrupted with the arrival of Remilia. She entered the room and once she saw Cirno and Daiyousei, she immediately scowled at them.

"You two again?! How many times do I have to throw you out before you get the message?!" she shouted.

"Crap! It's the vampire lady!" Cirno and Daiyousei both exclaimed in fright.

Max felt relieved with Remilia's appearance and smiled. "Yo, Remster. Come check this out," he said.

"What god awful name did you just call me?" Remilia asked.

Max got up out of bed and approached Daiyousei. "Check this fairy out. She has bigger tits than you do."

In an instant, Remilia's face went red in anger and she ended up glaring at Daiyousei, confusion over whom to be angry with enveloping her. Daiyousei's face also went red, but for an entirely different reason.

Daiyousei could feel the burning glare Remilia was giving her. She shook her head wildly. "N-N-No! Th-That's not true! It's all an optical illusion! They're not big at all!" she cried out in fright.

Max just stared at Daiyousei's wonderfully shaped breasts, slowly nodding his head in approval. "I could seriously titty fuck you," he said bluntly, causing Remilia and Daiyousei to gawk stupidly from his statement in shock.

"Max! Stop saying things the second they pop into your head!" Remilia yelled.

"What? I was just making an observation," Max said plainly.

Daiyousei's mouth remained wide open as she stood silent and completely stunned. She then slowly tilted backwards, tilting further and further before finally fainting, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

Cirno ran over to her fainted friend and stared in amazement. "Wow! You KO'ed her without even touching her! How'd you do that?!" she asked Max eagerly.

Max shrugged his shoulders, looking smug and proud. "What can I say? It's a natural talent of mine," he said.

"That's enough," Remilia said then pointed at Cirno assertively. "You. Take your friend and get out of my mansion. Next time you break in here, the both of you will be chained in my dungeons. You understand me?" she said.

Cirno picked up her friend and scoffed at Remilia's threat. "You can't scare me, demon. I'ma make you apologize to me for say'n I stole one of your cross thingies and I'ma-" Max's fist landing on top of her head mid-sentence cut her declaration short. "Ow! That hurt!"

"She said get out so you get out," Max ordered.

With puffed out cheeks and a single tear in her eye, Cirno nodded. "Fine! B-But I'll return! Just you wait!" she said then ran out the room with Daiyousei in her arms.

With the troubling fairies gone, Max sighed in relief then crawled back into bed, falling lazily onto his back. He crossed his arms behind his head and gently rested his head on a pillow. He closed his eyes, but immediately opened them back up the second he realized Remilia hadn't left.

"You mind leaving? I'm trying to chill here," he said then closed his eyes.

Remilia walked to the end of the bed then hopped up onto it. Slowly she crawled across the bed on all fours towards Max.

Max let out a quiet groan and opened his eyes. He was a little irritated that Remilia was bothering him, but he tried not to let himself sound it, though his expression told how he felt.

"No, really. Please leave. I'd like to snooze a bit," he said.

Remilia ignored him, crawled over top of him and laid herself down right on top of him. She rested her elbows on his chest and her chin on her hands. She said nothing and simply smiled as she gazed at Max's face, watching as he grew visibly bothered and annoyed.

Max tried to keep a straight face, but was failing. "Okay… Is there something you need?" he asked as nice as he could.

Remilia continued to gaze at Max is silence, taking in a little pleasure from his upset expression. Max was three seconds away from grabbing her and throwing her out of his room before she decided to end her silent tease.

"You surprise me, Maxy," Remilia said in a soft voice.

"Oh, no. You do NOT get to call me that," Max said as he grew a little flustered.

Remilia giggled then gently pressed her finger on Max's nose, forcing a bit of red to his cheeks. "Don't be so mean, Maxy. I'm here to thank you for helping me free Patchouli. As much as it pains me to admit it… I couldn't defeat that thing on my own. If you didn't come up with that crazy idea of yours… I'd rather not think of how it would of turned out if you hadn't," she said.

Max moved his gaze away from Remilia's face and shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, it ain't no big deal. You helped me and I just wanted to return the favor. That's it. End of story."

"Even after complaining about how much you didn't want to deal with Horror's anymore, you still gave me a helping hand and even put yourself at a great risk to do it. I just wanted you to know that I am very thankful for your service," Remilia said with a sincere expression.

"Yeah, no prob," Max said. "Which reminds me…"

He fell silent for a moment and Remilia kindly waited patiently for him to muscle up the will to ask what she was suspecting he was going to ask.

After a brief silence he sighed then said, "Was wondering if I could crash here at your place for a while longer. Just until I figure out what I wanna do from here on."

A big smile appeared on Remilia's face. "Of course! I'm surprised you even asked. You can be my butler," she said eagerly.

Max instantly frowned at the suggestion. "Yeah, I think I'd rather throw myself out a window."

"Oh, don't be like that, Maxy. Serving me is quite the honor, you know."

"Bullshit it is."

"Answering to my every call. Catering to my every whim. Doesn't that sound wonderful to you?" Remilia said excitedly, her imagination running a little wild.

"Nope," Max said bluntly as he shut his eyes.

Remilia grabbed Max by the chin and forced him to look at her. She grinned at the dirty look he gave her. "You're so stubborn, Maxy," she said teasingly.

Max shook her hand off. "Have you said all what you wanted? I'd like to shut my eyes for a bit if you don't mind," he asked as his patience started to dry out.

Remilia shortened the gap between her face and Max's, forcing him to try and pull his face back away from her. She giggled at his increasingly red face and his poor attempt to not look bothered by how close she was to his face.

"Actually, I had a request. Nothing big or anything. Just a small… little… teensy…" She shortened the gap further between her and Max, putting her lips dangerously close to his. "Request."

Max shuddered from her warm breath hitting his face. "Oookaaay… Wh-What?" he croaked.

Remilia smiled, happy with his quick submission. "Like I said, it's nothing big. You see… That fight with that monster has left me a little… thirsty. So I would like to ask you for a little drink."

"What? That's it? If you're thirsty then go suck on your maid's tits. God knows I want to…"

"I must refrain from drinking any of Sakuya's blood until she fully recovers from her injuries."

"Well, ya ain't get'n any of mine so scram," Max said stubbornly.

Remilia faked a frown and puppy eyes. "Please? Pretty please? I would be so very grateful if you let me suck a little out of you," she said in a bit of a childish voice.

"No means no, damn it, and that's it. The idea of having my blood drank is just plain weird."

A devilish grin formed on Remilia's face. "Max… It sounds to me like you don't remember the last time you gave me a little of your blood."

"Uh, we were sort of trying to kill each other at the time."

"No, you silly boy. I mean after that."

Max raised an eyebrow, not having any ideas to what Remilia was talking about. "After that?"

"Youkai Mountain. The Tengu Village," Remilia said.

"Youkai Mountain and Tengu Village…" Max repeated as he went into deep thought.

He went through all the places he went to the first time he came to Gensokyo, going through them in chronological order. He slowly remembered each place, but only really remembering the fights that broke out at each location. It then hit him that the large mountain not too far from the mansion had a name called Youkai Mountain. He then remembered that being the mountain he died on. Tengu Village was a strange name that he didn't recall, but a dog girl and her large breasts came into his mental vision, jogging his memory of the village that existed on the mountain. He remembered it smelling nothing but booze. At last he came to a memory that had somehow managed to slip his mind, and with that memory came a loud thump of his heart against his ribcage.

Max's face lit up red and his eyes widened. "Oh! That! Yeah, uh…" he said then tried to collect his thoughts after they went a little crazy. He tried to put on a serious expression, but his blush stuck around. "Yeah, what about it? N-Nothing came of that…"

Remilia's gaze went to Max's chest. She gently placed the tip of her pointer finger on it then traced some circles. She hid her enjoyment of his flustered look behind a bored expression. "Hmm… Yes, but only because we were interrupted."

The image of a certain long-haired, blond woman appeared in Max's mind and with that image came the utter anger and hate for said woman. "Why in God's name did you have to remind me of that cunt?" he asked.

"Your blood was so very tasty. So tasty that it made me feel revitalized. So revitalized that it made me feel warm. So warm that it made me feel lightheaded. So lightheaded that it made me feel…" Remilia raised her eyes back to Max's, her intimate eyes giving him goosebumps. "Funny…"

"Heh… Guess that part was the comedian inside me," Max joked.

"I can't promise anything, but if you let me have a drink then I might get into one of those 'funny' moods again. Then after that, well…" Remilia stopped gliding her finger around Max's chest then smiled at him. "Who knows?"

Another loud thump of Max's heart. A mess of emotions entwined within him. Nervousness, anger, excitement, confusion, wonder; all wrapped up into a ball of mental chaos. "That ain't fair," he said.

"Hmm? Not fair? Whatever do you mean?" Remilia said, pretending to sound like she was confused while still smiling.

"Don't bullshit me, Remilia. You're just trying to trick me into giving you my blood."

"Oh, I would never do that. I'm just telling you the possible consequence of you giving me your blood," Remilia said. "In fact, I'm being very fair by telling you."

"Like hell you are! You're trying to trick me by making me think I could… get something out of letting you drink from me. I ain't interested right now so just leave."

Remilia giggled at Max's surprising amount of stubbornness. Her left hand made its way up his shirt, gliding across and feeling his abs. Max bit down on his tongue when he nearly yelped in surprise. All of his muscles tensed up from her cold, smooth touch.

"Not interested, you say?" Remilia asked, enjoying the feel of Max's hard abs and his squirming beneath her. "If I were to go into one of my 'funny' moods, I'm sure you would get interested. And if you didn't…" She placed her lips near one of his ears and blew into it, sending a ripple from his ear, down his body and to his groin. "I'd make you interested. Promise."

Max grabbed Remilia's shoulders and tried to push her away from his face, but she easily pushed back. "W-W-Will you cut it out? You choose the worst times to screw around," he said nervously.

Remilia grabbed his chin with her right hand and held his lips close to hers and cooed, "I am the Scarlet Devil. I screw around when, where, and however I so please, Maxy."

Max couldn't help but feel like Remilia was crushing him underneath her. His blood ran like crazy throughout his body as could be seen by the beating redness in his face. He struggled to maintain an uncaring attitude, but he cared a lot more than he'd like to admit. He wanted Remilia out of his room, but knew damn well she wasn't going to leave without getting a taste of his blood and the worst thing about it was that she was going to get it whether or not he agreed to it. If he continued to say no, she would just easily overpower him and painfully remind him that he was no longer all powerful. If he said yes then he would just end up looking like he had a lewd interior motive for agreeing. Not that he would lie about any lewd thoughts he had or even care; it was just different for some reason when it was Remilia who was the one purposely putting those lewd thoughts into his head to begin with. In truth, she had him by the balls.

Max thought and thought to himself as Remilia happily watched him drive himself nuts with his own thoughts. With a drawn out sigh, he finally gave up.

"Alright. If you seriously need some blood then I'll let you have some, but only if you NEED it. Got it?" Max said. Remilia answered him with a bright smile. "I mean it. If you don't actually need any blood then just get out already. I'm done being fucked with."

Remilia wrapped her arms around Max's neck and reached close to his ear with her lips. She then whispered, "Thank you, Max. But I must warn you… Since you're just a normal human now, it will probably hurt more than it did the first time."

Max felt like he could explode any second now. "I can take a little pain. Just get on with it," he said. Hesitantly, he tilted head, exposing his neck to Remilia. "Hurry up. I'd like to sleep a little before I die again."

A victorious grin formed on Remilia's face. Despite Max's insistence that she'd be quick, Remilia decided she would just enjoy herself and take her sweet time. She started by sniffing Max's neck. He certainly hadn't bathed recently, but his male scent made her wings twitch and flutter. She felt the little shudders Max would let out every time she would breathe on his neck. His shuddering made her feel tingly all over and she enjoyed it greatly. She wanted to make Max shake more and thus decided to have a little taste of his neck. With the quick lick of her tongue, Max nearly jumped out of the bed. She couldn't help but to let out a little giggle.

Max was dangling off the emotional edge. He wanted to smack Remilia for teasing him so much, but forced himself to bear with it as much as he could, thinking he'd feel defeated somehow for losing control because of her. He tried to think of something, anything other than what was happening, but Remilia did a damn good job at keeping his mind focused on the current situation.

"Is this seriously necessary?" he asked strenuously.

"Hm? I'm just getting you prepared. Wouldn't want to go in when you aren't ready," Remilia said then giggled again.

"Not. Funny."

"Calm yourself, Max. You need to loosen your body up some or it'll be more painful than it has to be," Remilia said. "You know… I'm having a difficult time figuring out if your nervousness stems from you being so close to a girl… or because that girl happens to be… me."

Max scoffed at Remilia. "You're so full of yourself."

Remilia chuckled. "You act so lewd around other girls, but once one goes on the offensive, you fold. Or do I only have that special ability?"

And then Max's top blew. "That's it. Get off me," he ordered then tried to sit up, but was shoved right back down into the bed.

"But I haven't had my snack yet," Remilia cooed.

"Then hurry. The hell. Up," Max said strenuously.

And with that, Remilia decided it was time to drink. Partly because she thought she had played with Max enough, and mostly because she couldn't hold her desire for his blood back any longer. She gave the place on his neck where she would bury her fangs into another lick then gave it a sweet and gentle kiss. With her desire for blood pestering her, she tilted her head back and bared her fangs. With a low-sounding hiss, her fangs grew out. Her scarlet eyes glowed red as she prepared to drive her fangs into Max's flesh.

Max clenched at the bed sheets as he braced himself for the coming pain. He closed his eyes and waited. He closed them tightly, but opened them back up upon hearing another girl's voice.

"Lady Remilia."

Remilia's eyes ceased glowing and her fangs returned to normal size. She turned her head to see Sakuya standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Sakuya. What is it? I'm a little busy at the moment," she said.

Sakuya bowed. "Forgive me, but I wanted to inform you that Lady Patchouli has regained consciousness," she said.

An excited smile appeared on Remilia's face, her hunger instantly subsiding from hearing the good news of her best friend. "Patchy?! That is wonderful news! Thank you, Sakuya. I will go see her at once," she said then jumped out of the bed. She turned to Max and said, "I'm sorry, Max, but we're going to have to continue this later," she said then exited the room in haste.

Sweating all over, Max laid in bed, not exactly sure how to feel. He felt mad. He felt glad. He most definitely felt disappointed even though he tried to convince himself not to be. If anything, he was awfully mad and disappointed if the expression on his face was anything to go by. With a drawn out sigh, he crossed his arms across his chest in a slight pout and continued to just lie in his bed. He was just about to try and forget what had almost happened and might have happened and just go to sleep when he noticed that Sakuya was still standing in the doorway looking at him.

With a bummed out look, he huffed and grudgingly said, "Nice timing…" He tried not to sound as absurdly upset as he was and failed hard. Half of him wanted to thank Sakuya for the save. The other half wanted to kick her so hard in the crotch that she'd never birth children.

Sakuya remained silent for a moment, staring at Max with a nonchalant expression. After a few moments, a grin curiously appeared on her face. Max noticed and raised an eyebrow. Sakuya then raised her two middle fingers up at him.

A look of utter shock and anger appeared on Max's face as he gasped, "You bitch! You barged in on purpose!"

Sakuya felt nothing needed to be said and just continued to grin triumphantly at Max then moon-walked out of the room, her middle fingers held up the entire way.

Max remained speechless for a few moments, completely blown away by what had just happened. He fumed for a few seconds then said, "Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong, you bitch."

* * *

Remilia quickly made her way to the library, smiling excitedly along the way. She was afraid that Patchouli had fallen into a coma do to her awful injuries, but her worries were misplaced and she was very thankful for that. Her heart begged to see her best friend's face.

A short trip through the library and she was in Patchouli's bedroom. The room was filled with people: Marisa, Koakuma, Eirin and Reisen, all standing around the bed. And in the bed was, of course, Patchouli herself, awake and well. Another heavy load had been taken off of Remilia's shoulder, allowing her to breathe a little easier now.

Thanks to the efforts of Eirin and her assistant, Patchouli was looking a hell of a lot better. Half of her face was hidden underneath a layer of bandages, but the other half was visible and looked partly healed. Her severed hand had been reattached and remained bound in bandages.

Remilia placed her hand to her heart and sighed in relief. "Patchy…" she said. Everyone turned their attention to her as she ran up to Patchouli and embraced her.

Patchouli winced a little from the hug, still feeling quite sore, but she endured it with a smile. "Well, hello there, Remy," she said.

Remilia smiled brightly. "Hello, Patchy! How are you feeling?"

"Just fine, Remy. But I am a little worried about my bones snapping in two if you squeeze me any harder than you already are," Patchouli said.

Remilia's cheeks went a little pink. She quickly released Patchouli. "I'm-I'm sorry, Patchy. I was just-"

Patchouli silenced her flustered friend with a finger press to her lips. "You were worried for my wellbeing. That was obvious. You and Koakuma were. You all were. All I can say is thank you and that I'm sorry for worrying you."

Remilia gave Patchouli another hug, more gently this time. "It is fine. Just don't do it again."

Patchouli giggled. "Oh? Is that an order?" she asked, and got a nod as an answer.

"Yes. Please don't," Koakuma said, resisting the urge to tightly hug her master for the umpteenth time.

Eirin cleared her throat, gaining everyone's attention. "It looks like our work here is done. The last thing I need to say is for you and the Gate Guard to stay in bed for a while. And after that?" she said to Patchouli with a soft smile. "Just take it easy."

Patchouli gave a nod of thanks to the Lunarian. "Yes. Thank you for my hand back. Would have made spell casting and handling books quite difficult without it," she said.

"And for her face!" Koakuma anxiously chimed in as she lost self-control and hugged her master. "You really can work miracles."

Eirin chuckled. "All in a day's work for me," she said with a tad of arrogance.

Remilia walked up to Eirin. "I must thank you as well. You restored my friend to her beautiful self. I don't think I have anything that could repay you enough for your deed."

"Now, now. You have already given me something: a good story to tell the Princess when we return," Eirin said.

"Master," Reisen said. "Don't you think we should take their 'story' a little more seriously?"

Eirin chuckled. "Nonsense, Reisen. Hearing of their recent strife only begs one to wonder what other 'Horrors' are out there waiting for us," she said.

"Please, Master. This recent incident sounds frighteningly similar to the last one. The Human Village was hit hard during that incident," Reisen said worriedly.

"Nonsense. It would only be similar if…" Eirin said then turned her captivating gaze to Remilia, a musing smirk on her face. "If a certain handsome foreigner just so happened to be around."

Remilia gawked for a short moment then sighed, disgruntled. She figured Eirin suspected Max was alive again and running around the second she brought up the nature of the monster that had possessed Patchouli. She didn't feel like trying to lie and convince her wrong, knowing that the Lunarian would see through the lie in an instant and just kept quiet about it.

"Well, I guess that cat is out of the bag," Marisa said plainly.

"Handsome foreigner?" Reisen asked curiously. "Do you mean-"

At that moment, Sakuya came walking through the doorway and immediately said, "Max is fighting with the robed gentleman again."

Remilia rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I shouldn't be surprised," she said then made her way out of the room with Marisa and Sakuya right behind her.

Remilia and the others made their way to the center of Voile. Once they got there, they found exactly what Sakuya had said. Joseph was already on the floor with a pissed off Max standing over him and wielding a chair.

Joseph threw up his hands to try and shield himself. He quickly tried to defuse the situation and said, "Calm down, young man. I was merely enjoying a good bo-" But was silenced when Max broke the chair over him.

Max stood up straight and brushed his hands off one another. "You can enjoy a good book in hell, ya son of a bitch," he said.

With an angry look, Remilia marched up to Max. "And what do you think you are doing, Max?" she said harshly.

"Trying to kill this mother fucker," Max admitted bluntly.

Joseph was suddenly standing right next to Remilia, completely unfazed from the hit he just took from a chair. "There is no need to be upset, Miss Scarlet. I am quite alright," he said, his antagonizing grin pissing Max off even more.

"You won't be after I go all Hashashin on your sorry ass!" Max shouted then grabbed a hold of Joseph by the front of his shirt. He was just about to deck him before Remilia got in the way.

"Will you knock it off, Max? You're being juvenile," Remilia said.

"Damn right I am," Max said with a huff.

"Young people these days really are lacking in respect. I had thought you would be a little kinder to me after all the effort I put in to reviving you," Joseph said with a faked frown.

"That's the whole reason why I hate your guts, asshole!" Max exclaimed.

Joseph chuckled and put on his nefarious grin. "If I had not revived you then someone else would have done the job, my young friend," he said.

"Someone else," Remilia said as she grabbed Joseph by the arm, harshly pulling his attention to her. "By someone else do you happen to mean a woman with long blond hair?"

Joseph showed a small spark of surprise. "Oh, it appears you already know the answer. Heh heh…"

Remilia grew painfully angry. She knew that blond haired woman was up to something when she returned the Yellow Sign Medallion to her. She knew there was a catch, but she just couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was. But now she knew. That woman had plans for it and merely wanted her to hold onto it for her. She knew Max's soul was bound to it and planned to do something with it, but what that something was was now the next question that needed to be answered.

Marisa joined in on the conversation. "Blond haired woman, ze? You mean Miss Gap-of-the-Gaps?" she asked.

Joseph walked over to one of the desks that survived the chaos. On that desk sat the strange black book. He stood next to it, but refrained from touching it.

"You got yourself quite the treasure here, Miss Scarlet," he said, his hands shaking in desire to touch the book. "So many lives were lost in the making of this book… Many more were consumed by it in their foolish pursuit of the knowledge contained within."

"What is that book and why was it here?" Remilia asked demandingly.

"Patchy told us that she found it one day. It was packed away in one of her bookshelves," Marisa said. "She said she read from it then... Well, y'know the rest, ze."

"Apparently someone hid it away in your library, Miss Scarlet…" Joseph said plainly.

Remilia gritted her teeth hard as her anger intensified. "Yukari! She did it, didn't she?! Does she have any idea what she did by dropping it off here without telling anyone?!" she said loudly.

Joseph chuckled at the enraged look Remilia was freely showing. "I am sure the Great Sage meant you no harm, Dear Remilia. I'm sure she had… good intentions," he said.

Remilia stomped her foot. She stomped it so hard that she cracked the already damaged marble floor. "Tell me what this 'good intentions' was this instant, Joseph. I already know that you know so just come out with it," she demanded with a scowl.

A laugh urged to come out, but Joseph held it in. "I cannot tell you exactly. But I will tell you this…" He picked up the black book then walked towards Remilia. He handed it to her, but Max snatched it away from him. He cleared his throat and said, "There are some very bad people in this world, Miss Scarlet. People who would commit the most inhumane of crimes just to get their hands on this book. It being here is a blessing in disguise because if it is here then it is not in those peoples' hands." He bent down closer to Remilia, his face getting closer to hers. "If they were to get their dreaded hands on the Necronomicon… then I assure you that this world will end sooner… and far more horribly than intended," he said, and upon finishing his sentence, Max cracked him over the side of the head with the black book, sending him to the floor.

Max stood with the book in his hand, ready to beat the life out of Joseph with it, but was kept back by Marisa when she hugged him from behind. "Will you keep your fucking mouth shut? God damn it," he said angrily.

"The Necronomicon…" Remilia said as she gazed at the book with both wonder and hate.

"Creepy name for a creepy book. Sounds about right, da ze," Marisa said.

"That Horror constantly preached about the end of the world, but it failed to tell how exactly," Remilia said. She grinded her teeth when Joseph burst out into one of his obnoxious fits of laughter as he rose from the floor.

Joseph quickly got himself under control to speak. "Oh, you poor vampire," he said, enraging Remilia even further. "You really do have no idea what is coming, do you?"

Remilia had already decided which major artery of Joseph's she would cut into as she glared at him. "I suggest you think long and hard on what your next words will be, Joseph. Regardless of the assistance you gave us earlier, they might just end up being the death of you," she said, trying to sound calm.

Joseph smirked at the threat then merely shook his head. "I am afraid I must deny you of that knowledge. I do not want to be the cause of your despair. But if you wish to know so badly and so foolishly then you should speak with the Great Sage. Or…" he said. His gaze then shifted from Remilia to Max. "You could always ask Max here to give you his input," he said then received the thrown Necronomicon to the face.

"Get out of here and go kill yourself!" Max shouted as Marisa struggled to keep him from attacking Joseph.

With a drip of blood appearing from underneath his hood, Joseph grabbed a hold of Remilia's hand then gently kissed it. "You have done well in surviving thus far, young vampire, but you will soon find yourself in a shadow you cannot escape from. A power so great that it will put all those who came before to shame. A nightmare so horrible your very soul will shatter," he said, his words causing everyone else in the room to feel a chilling hand grip their hearts. He placed another kiss atop of Remilia's hand then stood up straight, his hands linked together behind his back. "I am sorry for the short visit, but I came only to tell you this… Protect the Necronomicon with your lives… and you just might stand a chance," he said then smirked. "Might." With his final word, he fell into a blistering laugh then vanished from sight, his laugh lingering in the air for a short time after.

With the troublesome Joseph gone, Remilia turned her attention to Max. He didn't bother to face her, but he knew she was looking at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but Max answered her before she could say anything.

"I don't know," he said. He turned around, stuffed his hands in his pant pockets and headed for one of the aisles. "I don't know," he repeated before taking his leave.

Remilia said nothing to him, and simply sighed, "Damn boy…"

Marisa hugged herself, filling oddly cold from what Joseph said. "That damn guy gives me the creeps. I think he's doing it on purpose too, ze," she said.

"He's a strange man," Sakuya said. "Can we trust him?"

Remilia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. There are so many things I just don't know and it upsets me," she said. "If Max would just stop being so stubborn and tell me what he knows then maybe we could get somewhere."

"I'm sure if he knows something he'll tell us," Marisa said.

Remilia shook her head. "He thinks he's protecting us by not saying anything. Thinks we'll fall into insanity if he says too much."

"Is he wrong?" Sakuya asked.

Remilia shook her head again. "I don't know…" she answered somberly.

After making sure Patchouli was settled, Eirin and Reisen appeared and approached the group. Eirin had a dubious grin, her gaze to where Max had wandered off to.

Eirin chuckled a little. "So I was correct," she said. "And it looks like death has not harmed his handsomeness in the slightest."

"Nope! He's still a hotty! Hee Hee!" Marisa said with a toothy grin.

"I suppose I better give him a free checkup before I go. Just to make sure everything is in working order after having been resurrected," Eirin said then followed after Max, suspiciously chuckling to herself along the way.

Reisen placed her palm over her slightly red face, feeling a bit embarrassed. She approached Remilia, feeling the need to apologize for Eirin. "It's not every day she gets to see a foreigner so… yeah…" she said, not really knowing what else to say. She then reluctantly followed her master.

Suddenly losing all trust she had in Eirin, Remilia turned to Sakuya. "Follow that moon woman and make sure she doesn't do anything outside her profession," she ordered.

"Yes, Milady," Sakuya said with a bow then followed after Eirin and Reisen.

Marisa moaned as she reached high into the air in a stretch. "So. What's the next course of action, Remilia?" she asked.

Remilia walked over to where the Necronomicon was left on the floor. She crouched down then picked up the black book. She studied its depraved cover before speaking. "I will have Koakuma put this somewhere for safe keeping," she said.

"We gonna go find the gap hag after that?"

"No. I need to get everything back together here. I can't leave my mansion while my most important servants are bedridden and injured. For now we must rest. I'm sure you are already aware, but things are just going to get more dangerous from here on out. We'll need to be at full strength in order to combat whatever other Horrors that decide to show themselves," Remilia said. She placed the Necronomicon under her arm and started walking, with Marisa right next to her.

Marisa folded her arms behind her head, her eyes on the Necronomicon. "Hmm… I wonder what Yukari plans with that thing," she said.

"She obviously knows something is going to happen and she's preparing for it. Just wish that blasted woman would include us in on her plan from the beginning and not when she feels like it," Remilia said.

Marisa smiled. "That's Yukari for ya," she said. She then noticed that Remilia had suddenly stopped. She stopped to face her then said, "Wassup?"

Remilia gazed at Marisa for a moment. "Marisa. I never did thank you for the assistance you have given me, have I?"

Marisa stood dumbfounded and just stared back at Remilia stupidly. "Eh?"

Remilia gave a small bow to Marisa, stood back up straight and smiled. "Thank you, Marisa. You have been most helpful. I'm sorry for any mean things I've done to you up until now," she said with sincerity.

It took a while for what Remilia had said to process in Marisa's brain, having never expected to hear words of thanks let alone an apology. Her face slowly reddened. "Eh? Oh! Uh-Uh of course! No problem! I'm always happy to help, da ze!" she said, trying not to sound as flustered as she was.

Remilia smiled at Marisa and nodded. And with that off her chest, her happy expression turned serious and she continued on walking with Marisa. "We will pay Miss Yukari a little visit once I get everything back to normal here and once I do… There will be hell to pay."

Eihort, Cthulhu, Y'golonac; these eldritch names ran through Remilia's mind. One by one their horrific images reemerged, their unfathomable forms forever burned in her memory. A crowned figure in yellow then flashed before her, his maddening red gaze gnawing at her heart. The image of a small girl came next, her haunting grin taunting her. And then the great and terrible eye of her nightmare, of her vision. An eye filled with incomprehensible madness and destruction that looked down upon her from a blackened sky.

The more she thought about the eldritch horrors the more she felt something trying to steal her hope away. She clinged onto that hope and held onto it for all that she was worth, determined never to let it go as long as her heart still beats.


	22. Chapter 22 An Old Regret

Within the kitchen of the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya was busy at work, cleaning up what the fairy staff failed to clean and whatever messes they contributed. The cleaning of the kitchen, on a regular day, would usually be a quiet, relaxing and all around enjoyable task for the Chief Maid. With that in mind, she saved the kitchen to be cleaned last after all cleaning elsewhere was completed. But, alas, her time of relaxation was disrupted by some company.

As Sakuya continued on with her diligent work, a bored Max sat at the counter, elbows rested on it and his head propped up on his hands. His examining eyes followed the busy maid, watching her go back and forth throughout the kitchen.

Any time Sakuya would need to bend over to get something in a bottom cupboard or to pick up something she would hesitate, knowing all too well where Max's eyes would go. She tried to pretend he wasn't even there, that he was just a mannequin (a handsome one, she would admit) that had been left there to rot, but she could practically feel his eyes sliding up and down her body. She had only agreed to let him stick around the kitchen if he kept his mouth shut, and that he did, but now she was thinking that she should have made him keep his eyes shut instead.

Max undressed the Chief Maid with his eyes as she did her best to ignore him. It was only when a nagging question pestered him enough did he open his mouth.

"Y'know… There's something I've been wondering for a while since I met ya," he said.

Sakuya let out a slow sigh. She placed some glass plates back to their spots, took a deep breath, and turned to face Max. "If you would be so kind to leave me to my duties in peace then I will gladly answer any question you may have," she said softly.

"Sure thing," Max said. "Not knowing is driving me nuts so… Does the carpet match the drapes?" he asked and nearly lost his left ear to a flying knife for it. "Ffffuck!" he exclaimed, wide-eyed.

Flustered, Sakuya huffed and tried to get on with her business, but a persistent Max got in her way. He leaned up against the counter, arms across his chest and a smug grin on his face.

"Oh come on. It was an honest to God question. I'd find out myself if you'd let me," he said coolly.

"Max. You kill my sex drive with every word that comes out of your mouth," Sakuya said patiently.

"Is that your way of saying 'less talk, more action'?"

"Absolutely not."

"Aw, come on. I saved your master from not only the Void, but from R'lyeh also. Could you throw me some kind of bone here?"

"I find it hard to believe that you saved her just so you could get me to sleep with you."

"I didn't. I'm just saying I'd like a little reward for my troubles, that's all," Max said, his hand reaching up then playfully twirling the braid on the left side of Sakuya's head. "And besides… You're a hard working girl and, like me, have dealt with a lot of shit lately. I know you gotta be hurting for a little _fun_ so let me be the one you fool around with. You help me out. I help you out. Sound like a deal?"

"Why don't you go flirt with Marisa? She'd be much more willing to comply than me."

"Because you have a more awesome booty than she does," Max said bluntly.

Sakuya's palm met her face. "You really don't have any shame," she groaned.

Catching her off guard, Max grabbed Sakuya by the waist, lifted her up and sat her down on the counter, pushing himself between her legs. He leaned in towards her, his smile strengthening into a confident sly grin as he fiddled with the braids in her hair with one hand while the other hand was roughly placed on her waist.

As for Sakuya herself, her expression was plain, but a visible vein on her temple pulsated with intense aggravation. She resisted a murderous impulse in the tips of her fingers with every ounce of self-control that she had.

She took a deep breath and said, "Max… I'm about five seconds away from sticking you with a knife."

"Heh heh, and I'm three seconds from sticking you with something."

And with that said, Sakuya wrapped her legs tightly around Max's waist, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and rolled backwards, sending him flying over the counter. Max hit the floor face first with a loud thud and skidded to a stop.

Sakuya hopped off the counter, brushed her hands off one another then stormed out of the kitchen with an angry huff.

With a red skid mark on his face, Max climbed back up to his feet. He sighed in disappointment with how Sakuya reacted, but at the same time expected worse.

"I think I might need to reevaluate my approach…" he uttered to himself.

"Hello, Mister Max!" said a young girl's voice.

Max turned to the voice to find that it belonged to Flandre. He gave her only a single, lifeless wave then lazily sat down on a stool and began to contemplate to himself.

Though a little upset with the not-so-energetic wave he gave her, Flandre kept a cheerful expression and walked up to him. She studied his face as he stared out into his own thoughts for a moment before speaking.

"Why so melancholy?" she asked.

Max leaned back, pushed his arms up to the ceiling in a stretch and answered, "Blueballs, Flany Flan. Blueballs."

Flandre tilted her head, looking at Max with curious eyes. "Blueballs? What are those and could I help you with them?" she asked.

"Heh. I would like you to, but out of some stupid sense of respect I have for Remilia, I'ma have to decline," Max said.

Flandre puffed her cheeks as she grew a little upset. "What does my sister have to do with it? Let me help you," she demanded

"Don't tempt me, kid. I'm already on the verge of snatching up one of those fairy maids," Max said then stood up to leave.

"Wait! I had something to ask of you," Flandre said.

"Make it quick."

Some pink surfaced in Flandre's cheeks. "I came to ask if you would let me drink from you," she said, fiddling with her fingers behind her back. She took a few steps closer to Max, looking at him wistfully. "You had a cut on your lip when you kissed me and I got a little taste of your blood. It was… It was really tasty," she said happily, her wings fluttering behind her.

Max rolled his eyes and said, "Ah, shit. Not you too."

"Hee hee hee." A girlish snickering came from the kitchen's entrance, and standing in the entrance was Marisa. With her bandaged arm, she greeted Max and Flandre with a two-finger salute. "See, Max? This is but one consequence of your shenanigans. Now you gotta pay up, ze," she said, her face shining with a toothy grin.

"Like hell I do," Max said sourly.

Flandre giggled, then with one leg in front of the other, she closed the distant further between her and Max. "Please, Mister Max? I can't concentrate on anything else but your tasty blood. I'll go crazy if I don't drink some of it," she said sweetly.

"Do you damn vampires understand what _no_ means?" Max asked, growing visibly annoyed.

A mischievous grin flashed across Flandre's face. "I'm not very good at listening, especially when I'm thirsty," she said, eyes full of yearning. "And if you don't let me suck on your neck a little… I might just have to tackle you to the floor and hold you down until you give in," she said with an innocent smile.

Max scoffed at her veiled threat. "What the hell makes you think a runt like you can pin me down, eh?"

"You're just a normal human. What can you do to stop me, hmm?" Flandre asked then went into a chuckle.

A foreboding grin appeared on Max's face. With the quick work of his arms, he reached up under Flandre's skirt, grabbed a hold of her white panties and pulled them right down to her ankles. He stood up strait, arms folded across his chest and grinning in triumph. Marisa face-palmed while Flandre stood silent with a flustered red face, completely dumbfounded.

"That for starters," he said.

Flandre quickly pulled her panties back up and glared at Max shyly. "You really are a naughty boy. First you play with my butt, then you kiss me, and now you try to undress me. You shouldn't do such things so freely to a lady, you know," she said.

"Lady, eh? Well, lady, I'm just getting started. Let's go to your room so you can show me just how _lady-like_ you are," Max said as he picked Flandre up then went to carry her out of the kitchen, but was stopped when Marisa snagged him by the ear.

"Hold it, buster," Marisa said.

Max turned to Marisa, leaned in close to her and, in the most honest manner, whispered, "You think Remilia would be mad if I banged her sister?"

"Uhh… You gonna have to ask Remilia herself, bud," Marisa said.

Flandre groaned angrily. "What are you two saying? Speak louder," she demanded.

Max released Flandre, who gracefully landed back on her feet. "We'll talk later," he said then gave her a playful smack on the behind.

"Goodness!" Flandre exclaimed in surprise.

Marisa smirked and shook her head. "It's amazing how tolerant Remilia is of you," she said to Max. "She'd kill any other person who does half the things you do. Heck, I make little surprise visits and she bitches me out because of it, ze."

Giggling, Flandre wrapped her arms around Max's arm and tightly hugged it. "It's because he looks like our father," she said.

Marisa's eyes widened in surprise. "What?! Really?!"

"That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard," Max said indignantly.

"It's true!" Flandre announced happily. "Would you two like to see a picture of father?" she asked of Max and Marisa, her wings flapping excitedly.

"I'd love to, Flan!" Marisa said excitedly.

Max simply scoffed at the idea. "I don't wanna see your dumb dad," he said, and a split second later, a thought popped into his head. "Wait… Got a picture of your mum by any chance?" he asked, looking more interested now.

"Of course!" Flandre said. With a tight hold on Max's arm, she led him and Marisa out of the kitchen. "Just follow me!"

With Flandre pulling Max and Marisa racing to keep up with them, the three made a quick journey through the mansion. They quickly made it to their destination: the study room of Remilia and Flandre's father. Flandre opened the door to the room and raced inside.

"We're here!" Flandre loudly announced.

Marisa nodded her head. "I should of figured it was this room you were bringing us to, ze," she said.

"Have you been in here before, Marisa?" Flandre asked curiously.

"Yup," Marisa said with a nod.

Max browsed through the cultural artifacts that were strewn around the room one by one, not finding a single one interesting. "Place looks like a storage for absolute trash," he said.

"So where's this picture of your pops, Flan?" Marisa asked.

Flandre climbed up onto one of the desks that sat up against the wall. She then reached up towards the covered picture frame that was placed above the desk. "Right here," she said as she pulled the purple cloth off of the picture, revealing what it contained.

Marisa's eyes immediately went wide as did her mouth upon seeing the male figure in the painting. Max looked at the picture and his eyes also went wide, but for the female that stood in the painting.

Marisa's eyes turned to Max's face and back to the painting several times over and over again, unable to believe the resemblance between the man in the picture and the man standing next to her.

"Holy shit, da ze!" she exclaimed.

"I know, right? Those are the biggest tits I have ever seen!" Max stated, his eyes plastered onto the cleavage of the woman in the paining. "I could get lost between those…" he said as his mind wondered off.

"No, you dummy! You really do look like their dad!" Marisa said. "No wonder why she has such an invested interest in ya."

Max gave the man in the picture a quick glance and was immediately disgusted with Marisa's statement. "Are you stupid or something? I look nothing like that douchebag."

"No, seriously. Minus the dude's vampire features, you look like a younger version of him," Marisa said. Her eyes went to the man in the picture and just stared in amazement. "I knew Remilia kept ya around because of your good looks, but I didn't think there was more to it than that, ze."

"He was the most handsome vampire in all of Europe!" Flandre said as she threw her hands up in excitement.

"You're both retarded," Max spat. "I'm not even European."

"He was half Greek, half Turkish and mother was Frankish," Flandre informed kindly.

"Ah, shit…" Max sighed in dismay.

"Hey, Max. Where were you from? I think you mentioned it before. Was it Arabia? You look Arab," Marisa said.

"No and if you mistake me for an Arab ever again I swear to god I will barbeque your ass," Max threatened.

"Woops. Sorry," Marisa said then backed away a bit upon realizing she had accidently hit a red button with him. "Then where were you born? You do look Middle-Easternish."

"I was born to a Chechen woman and a Turkish man, alright?" Max grumbled.

"Ah-ha!" Marisa exclaimed as she pointed an accusing finger at Max. "That explains it! It all makes sense now!"

"Just shut up. I don't wanna hear it," Max said crossly.

Marisa snickered teasingly at Max, stopping when she noticed Flandre gazing up at the painting with distant, sad eyes. She walked over to the vampire and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"You miss them, don't ya, ze?" Marisa asked softly.

"Yeah…" Flandre nodded. "So does big sister. She really revered father. She would always look at the rosary he made for her whenever she would think about him."

Upon hearing the word 'rosary', a terrified expression suddenly took over Marisa's face, balls of sweat popping up all over. "Did… Did you say a… a rosary?" she asked hesitantly with a dry mouth.

"Uh-huh. But someone stole it," Flandre said sadly. "I really hope she finds it before it ends up broken. She really cherishes that rosary. I got one from mother, but unlike stupid sister, I keep mine hidden."

"Now that I think about it, I did overhear her bitching at maid girl and the Chinese chick about a rosary or whatever earlier. Was wondering what the hell that was all about," Max said.

Marisa chuckled nervously. "Well, that explains why she was so angry about it before."

Max gave Flandre a pat on the head, bringing a smile to her face. "Thanks for showing me your boobalicious mom, Flany Flan. Now I got one hell of a MILF to fantasize about," he said then went to leave the room.

"Wait, Mister Max!" Flandre grabbed Max by the arm and hugged it. She looked up at him with pleading eyes and said, "Since you're not doing anything, come play with me. I'm bored of just playing by myself."

Max chuckled. "Sure. But only if I get to choose the game we play," he said as he gave Flandre a thumbs up.

"Huh? What game do you have in mind?" Flandre asked, eager to know.

"A game where we see how far we can get your bed across the room in a single session," Max said with a wink.

Flandre tilted her head. "Hmm? That sounds like a weird game. Is it fun?"

"Loads," Max answered, grinning from ear to ear.

"Actually…" Marisa grabbed Max by the arm and, to his annoyance, pulled him off to the side.

"What? You wanna join us? The more the merrier," Max said.

"No, you chucklehead. I want you to, um… I want you to come to my place. It's important," Marisa said as she scratched the back of her head with a glum expression, too embarrassed and ashamed to go into further detail.

Max just stared blankly at Marisa, not knowing what she was going on about. But an idea quickly clicked in his head. He went wide-eyed as he said, "Ooooh! I get it now." He grinned then wrapped an arm around Marisa's waist and pulled her close to him, causing some red to appear in her cheeks. "You want me for yourself, eh? You should of just said so, baby. Let's go to my room then. Actually, forget my room. Let's just do it right here while Flany Flan's parents watch. Ah, what the hell? Flany Flan can watch too!"

"Oh, for the love of…" Marisa groaned as she face-palmed with both hands. She blamed only herself for not predicting that Max would have taken what she said the wrong way.

She let out a small shriek of surprise when Max lifted her up. The second he sat her down on the desk, his hand went to her leg and up her long skirt. With her face lighting up red, she grabbed Max by his broad shoulders and tried to push him away.

"Whoa there, my horny friend!" she exclaimed as she fought to keep some distant between him and her. "Jeez, man, is sex all you think about?"

"Well, it's either I think about pussy or think about extra-dimensional horrors capable of completely destroying everything that I hold dear. Which do you think is better, hm?"

Marisa opened her mouth to try and argue, but had nothing to argue with. "Oh… Good point," she said in defeat.

"Finally we agree now let's do this," Max said then pushed his hand further up Marisa's skirt.

Marisa grabbed the hand that snaked its way up her leg, her mind fogging up from the sensation. "No! W-We got more important things to worry about!" she cried out as she struggled to keep Max's hand from going any further while mentally trying to remain the voice of reason in the room.

Flandre stood quietly as Marisa wrestled with Max. She watched patiently and unsure of what was going on, but she soon got the hint of what kind of _game_ Max had in mind that he wanted to play. Her white cheeks went pink and her lips formed into a wide grin that showed her shining white fangs perfectly.

She raised the tips of her fingers to her lips and giggled mischievously at the two struggling humans. "I get it now… You wanted to play THAT kind of game. Why didn't you just say so, you silly boy?" she said softly. She started to slowly walk towards the two, giggling to herself as her imagination ran free, an imagination that was fueled further by her unchained vampiric nature. "You both are awfully naughty humans. I like that," she cooed.

Max and Marisa ended their little struggle and moved their focus to Flandre, freezing in place from the intent gaze she was giving them. Both of their jaws dropped from the vampire's sudden change in demeanor.

Marisa quickly broke out into a panic and held her hand out as a sign for Flandre to halt her advance. "W-W-W-Wait! Wait, Flan! You got it all wrong!" she said.

Max, on the other hand, could only grow excited. He turned to Marisa and excitedly squealed, "She wants to fuck us!"

"Max, shut up!" Marisa said in a hushed voice. "Because of you, Flan has gotten all sexually excited."

"Yup, and for all that is holy, shut up and be my best friend right now," Max strongly urged.

"I AM your best friend, that's why I'm not gonna let you do something you'll regret," Marisa sternly stated. "Remember that Flandre is still Remilia's younger sister and, just like her older sister, is a vampire."

"Don't worry. I'll just tell Remilia that I got Flany Flan mixed up with her," Max said with a confident smile.

"That's not what I'm trying to say at all!" Marisa shouted in frustration.

Max grabbed Marisa by the front of her shirt and pulled her face closer to his, his eyes staring down at her intensely. "I have been stuck in a stupid piece of jewelry alone for the last year and a half. I have needs that will kill to be met," he said stressfully.

"Yeah, so do I and it's called the need to live and giving Remilia a second reason to kill me by _playing_ with Flan in her dad's study won't help, da ze."

"Second reason? The hell you talking about?" Max asked.

"Listen. I want you to come to my place because it involves Remilia's missing rosary," Marisa said exhaustively.

"The one Flany Flan was talking about? What about it?"

"I'll explain everything at my place."

While Max and Marisa were bickering, Flandre was unbuttoning her vest. "I can't even remember if I've ever played this game before with a boy. But now I get to play with a boy AND Marisa! We're going to have so much fun together!" she said in excitement. "I only ever get to play this game with elder sister."

Max went bug-eyed and gawked stupidly from the sudden statement. An obscene image popped up in his mind and aroused him more than he already was. "You and your sister have-" He stopped midsentence when he felt a fluid run down from his nose. He wiped the fluid on his hand to see it to be blood then stared at it in confusion. "The hell?"

"You're hopeless," Marisa said while blood snuck its way out of her nose as well.

"What's wrong, you two?" Flandre asked as she dropped her vest to the floor then reached her hands up her skirt. She slid her white panties off then casually flicked them off to the side. Her vampiric eyes glowed with a seductive gaze. "Do I have to teach you two the rules? I'll be more than happy to," she said as she lifted up her skirt a little in a teasing manner.

For a second time, Max and Marisa's jaws hit the floor. Max was an absolute lost cause now, taken over completely by his desires and ensnared by the vampire's seducing eyes. Marisa was just barely holding onto the collar of her own inner animal, but Flandre's vampiric gaze was sapping her of what control she still managed to maintain. She closed her eyes to rid herself of the hypnotizing red eyes, but her eyes were forced open when Flandre climbed up onto her and sat herself down on her lap.

Marisa broke out into a cold sweat. She swallowed hard and calmly said, "Hi, Flan. Umm… Sup, ze?"

Flandre grinned, knowing she was close to breaking the witch's will any second now. "What are you afraid of, Marisa? Don't you want to play with me? Mister Max want's to so how about you?" she said, her lips inching their way towards Marisa's trembling lips.

Watching with heart-stopping anticipation and with steam shooting out from his nostrils, Max was screaming, "_Do it!"_ inside his head repeatedly.

Marisa was on the brink of losing it, but remained determined not to let the situation get to the point where even she wouldn't be able to come back from. So with her last ounce of control, she shoved Flandre off of her lap, jumped off the desk and decked Max in the nose, sending blood spurting from it and knocking him to the floor. She grabbed the groaning man by his foot then took off running out of the room quicker than lightning while dragging Max across the floor right behind her.

"Sorry, Flan! We can't play now! Places to be! Things to do!" she shouted over her shoulder.

An utterly perplexed Flandre ran to the doorway and called out to the fleeing witch. "Wha?! Wa-Wait! Where are you two going?!"

"God damn it! Let me have my fun before I die again!" Max yelled angrily as blood poured from his nose.

With her feet moving their fastest, Marisa held a thumbs up out to the side. "Trust me on this, buddy. I have a plan that'll help both you and me. You'll thank me for this, da ze!"


	23. Chapter 23 The Rosary Lost

Within the Forest of Magic sat the home of Marisa Kirisame, far from civilization and relatively free from any nuisances that the forest itself was known to produce. It was nestled within a small, cozy field that was surrounded by the rest of the forest. A thin layer of snow covered the house and ground around it. The snow sparkled from the sun's rays that pierced through the gray clouds.

The house itself contained pretty much what you would expect in a home of a witch; and all of it was thrown about the living room without rhyme or reason. No effort to maintain some sense of organization could be seen within the plethora of books lying everywhere in the living room. Marisa's bedroom was no different and could hardly be called a bedroom with all of the books piled on her bed while clothes were piled outside the room. The small kitchen, surprisingly, was in much better shape in regards to cleanliness and order.

The doorknob to the front door jiggled for a couple of seconds before the door was pushed open, revealing the owner of the house herself.

A bright smile showed Marisa's happiness to be home. "We're here!" she announced before entering the house.

Entering the house right behind her was Max. He looked far from happy about being dragged out of the mansion, tossed onto a broom and flown through the cold sky at high speeds to the middle of a forest that he had less than fond memories of. Not to mention the fact that Marisa (in his eyes at least) had committed a terrible crime against him by pulling him away from the mansion.

Marisa walked to the center of the living room then twirled around to face Max, smiling happily at him. "So? What you think? Nice place, huh?" she asked.

Max gave the room a modest look around, his sour expression remaining unchanged. "It's a god damn dump that's about to burn to the ground if you don't start explaining why you felt the need to hop on my shit list," he scowled.

"Eh…" Marisa's smile vanished in an instant. She looked away from Max's angry glare, but she could still feel his eyes stabbing her. "N-Now listen, Max. I had a good reason. A VERY good reason," she said nervously.

"I should have a vampire bouncing on my lap right now! What possible reason do you have for dragging me away?!" Max shouted, causing Marisa to jump back in fright.

Marisa was sweating, but she got herself together and formed a confident grin. "Because I know who the true focus of your desires is and I want to help you with getting a little quality time with her," she said then tossed Max a wink.

Max blinked a few times, at a complete loss with what Marisa was getting at. "The focus of my desires? The fuck you talking about?" he asked.

"Come on now, Max, you can't hide it from Marisa Kirisame. I've seen how you look at Remilia," Marisa stated.

"Yeah, it's called stripping her with my eyes," Max said flatly.

"But you do it with such love and care!"

"I'm about to give you some love and care right over that desk if you don't explain why you dragged me out here in the next five seconds," Max said threateningly.

With a tensed up smirk, Marisa's cheeks heated up as she involuntarily fabricated the so-called _threat_ into a visual image in her head. "I-I'm not sure how threatened I should feel about that," she said, and when Max made a move towards her, she panicked. "Eek! Okay! It's about Remilia's rosary! I know where it is!" she cried out in haste.

Max stopped his advance and sighed. Looking a little less angry, he calmly said, "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Now just tell me where it is."

Marisa tugged on her dress out of nervousness as she tried to find the right words to use, but she knew that there were very few words that could help her situation. Hesitantly, she spoke up. "I-It's right here… In my home…" she said in what almost turned into a whisper.

Max raised an eyebrow then glared intensely at her as his suspicion flared up. "Okay… Now tell me WHY it's in your house," he said, but he already could have guessed it and been correct.

Marisa's eyes went to the floor, unable to bear the accusing eyes that bore down on her. Her eyes watered and she started to sweat more. Before long, her hands went over her eyes as her immense regret finally forced her to fess up.

"I took it!" she confessed.

"Damn it, Marisa! Remilia already acts like she's on her period twenty-four seven and you went and made it worse!" Max shouted.

"I know! I know! I'm sorry! I really am!"

"The hell were you thinking?!"

"I didn't know that particular rosary was so important to Remilia or I wouldn't have borrowed it! She has so many of the damn things so I didn't think she would of missed it!"

"Oh for fuck sake…" Max groaned exasperatingly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He then walked up to Marisa and forced her to uncover her eyes and look at him. "If you have it then why don't you just go and return it to her, hm? Why waste my time confessing to me?"

Marisa sighed depressingly. "Because I have finally gotten Remilia to like me. If she finds out that I took the rosary her dad gave her… she'll never EVER trust me again. Not only that… She'll kill me!"

"Not my problem," Max said bluntly.

"Don't be so cruel!" Marisa cried out.

"Stop stealing people's shit then," Max said harshly.

"No, listen! Listen! I have a plan that will benefit both of us," Marisa said then flashed Max a toothy grin.

"Plan? What plan? You don't need a frikn' plan. Just give the damn thing back."

"Please just hear me out," Marisa pleaded with her hands pressed together.

Growing increasingly irritated, Max sighed. "And what is this brilliant fucking plan of yours, hm?" he asked. He didn't actually care to know, but figured he could give Marisa the chance to try and humor him.

Marisa's cocky grin grew upon hearing Max's willingness to listen to her. "It's really simple, da ze," she said. "You be the one to give Remilia her rosary back, but instead of saying that you got it from me, you tell her that some horrible monster had it and you fought it to get it back. That way, I get out scot-free and with my newfound friendship with Remilia intact, while you earn some major, um… Some major… Ah! Let's call them graze points. You earn some major graze points with her and I'm willing to bet that she'll happily _thank_ you for getting her precious rosary back. It's a win-win situation for everyone so… Whaddya say, buddy?" she said. Cockiness shined in her grin, confident that Max would be more than willing to go along with her plan. It was fool proof.

Max stared at the grinning Marisa in silence. Everything she said had gone in one ear and was immediately thrown out the other with no consideration whatsoever. "What the hell makes you think I want to score some graze points, or whatever the fuck, with Remilia anyways?" he asked.

"Ah, don't be shy, buddy. I know you have a crush on her, ze," Marisa said as she teasingly nudged Max with her elbow, annoying him even more. "You can't stand there and tell me you're still hanging around for other reasons. I have a good eye for these kinds of things."

"She saved me from eternal damnation in some other dimension and I have nowhere else to go. That's it. I thought I made that pretty damn clear before," Max said sourly.

Marisa wrapped an arm around Max's neck, keeping her grin out in the open. "Sure, sure. Even if that was true, you still stand to gain a lot of _fun_ with her if you just do as I say," she said.

Max sneered in disgust then threw Marisa's arm off of him. "Bitch, are you high? I'm not gonna lie to Remilia just to get her to let me slip it in her," he said.

At a loss for words, Marisa fell silent. After a moment, she finally found her voice. "Wh-What?! Why not?!" she said.

"Because I'm not an absolute prick?" Max asked rhetorically.

"Of course you're not, ze. That's not what I'm trying to say at all," Marisa said then forced a hardy laugh. "I'm just saying this could be your ticket into… um… into… Well, into Remilia, to be frank," she said with a nervous smile. "Come on, buddy. Don't let a golden opportunity like this go to waste!" she said. And with a quick swipe of his hand, Max slapped her over the back of the head. "Ouch! Jeez, that hurt!" She cringed as she held her pained head.

"I'm not tricking Remilia into having sex with me and that's final. Now get that frikn' rosary so we can get back to the mansion," Max said, resisting the urge to give Marisa another good smack across the head.

Marisa's eyes widened in terror, scared to death of what Max had in mind. "Wha-What are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to do anything. YOU will be returning Remilia's rosary to her and apologize to her for taking it. Now hurry up. I might still be able to catch Flany Flan in a playful mood," Max said with a huff.

"No! I can't do that!" Marisa grabbed Max by the shirt, staring up at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Max, I'm begging ya here. I won't just lose my friendship with her; I'll lose my life!"

Max pushed Marisa away then roughly brushed off his shirt. "Yup," he said bluntly then, after losing patience with Marisa's refusal to get the rosary, began searching the messy room for the rosary himself.

Marisa leaned up against a desk, allowed her head to roll backwards on her neck and then let out a long, disgruntled sigh. She stared at the ceiling for a second, trying to think of how to get Max to play ball. Not even a second of thinking was required for her to know how to get his cooperation, and the thought brought her face to a beating red color.

Another sigh escaped Marisa lips and her head fell forward, her eyes settling on Max's back as he rummaged through a pile of junk. She tilted her head, her eyes scanning him up and down.

A trouble-seeking grin shined through Marisa's flushed face. She would be hard-pressed to say that she wasn't physically attracted to Max. Where his personality may have been a bit ugly in places, his physical looks was the complete opposite. She would be lying through her teeth if she said she would never fool around with him; his constant touching and grouping of her made it hard to not think about the prospect. Really, the only thing that was keeping her from doing anything remotely sexual with him before was the fact that she didn't want to complicate the already dysfunctional friendship she held with him, not to mention she was afraid that Remilia had already staked her claim on him. But feeling a little bit backed into a corner, she decided the best way to keep her theft of the rosary a secret was by having a little _fun_. Nothing wrong with that, she figured.

With a her resolution made, Marisa put on a stern expression, gave herself a quick sniff around to make sure she didn't smell then made her move.

"Hey Max," Marisa called out, making sure she had her best sexy look on.

Max stopped his search and turned to Marisa. "Where the hell is the dame thing? I can't find anything in this landfill you call a home," he said.

With a red face but confident look, Marisa grabbed her skirt and pulled it up to her waist, revealing her white bloomers to Max. She flashed him her toothy grin then said, "Alright, Max. You win. This is what you want, right? Well? Then get over here, daaa ze," she said.

Max raised a high eyebrow, looking quite baffled. "Say what now?" he asked.

Marisa giggled, a little embarrassed to be flashing a guy her underwear, but at the same time feeling excited and adventurous. "If you return Remilia's rosary and promise not to tell her you got it from me then I'll fool around with you. Just a little though. Nothing crazy or anything. It can be a warm up," she said.

She giggled again as her own imagination was getting far ahead of her. The more frisky she felt the more red her face became. Her rather happy expression only changed when she noticed that Max was staring at her expressionless, and that puzzled her.

"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked then turned away and playfully acted shy. "Ah, don't tell me you want me to start it off? You're the guy so act the part," she said then lightly laughed.

Max stared at Marisa's bloomers, wanting nothing more than to rip them right off of her ass, but not for any exciting reason, though. "You're still wearing those mutant boxers? Those things are a complete boner-kill. Get rid of them," he said plainly then shook his head in disappointment.

With her playful mood bombed, Marisa slipped and fell off the desk and to the floor, landing hard with a loud thump. She jumped back up to her feet and glared at Max as her face flared up in frustration. She felt utterly insulted as was evident by the steam bursting from her ears.

"I like bloomers, damn it!" she shouted.

"Well, you're not conning me with sex anyways so forget it. We give Remilia her rosary back THEN we can screw," Max said.

Marisa gawked immensely, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Y-You're turning me down?!"

"Remilia's thingamajigger is more important, I told you. Let's get that returned to her first before you grease my rod."

Marisa pointed an accusing finger at Max. "Ha! I knew it! You do like her! You wouldn't be turning me down if you didn't!" she yelled then stomped her foot in frustration. "Damn it! I should have just tried to sneak it back in without anyone noticing!"

Max rolled his eyes at the accusing witch. "Believe what you want, but she'd find out one way or another I'm sure so just apologize to her and get it over with, alright? I seriously doubt she'll kill you over it. Kick you in the crotch so hard that your ovaries are dangling outa' your ears? Sure. But not kill you," he said.

Marisa slumped her shoulders as a depressing atmosphere encircled her. "Uhhg… You chose the worst possible time to be a caring guy," she said despondently.

"Just bring me the damn thing, Marisa," Max ordered exasperatingly.

Marisa sighed in defeat. "Guess I'll just have to do things the tried-and-true way and blast my way out of the mansion with as many explosions I can possibly make," she muttered.

"Look. I think Remilia will be willing to forgive you if you just show her that you have the balls to apologize to her face. I'll even vouch for ya so don't worry about it. Now go get the frikn' thing so we can get outa' here already," Max said.

Marisa, reluctantly, did as she was told and went to her room while Max waited impatiently in the living room for her as she searched. After a few moments went by, Marisa rushed back into the living room. Max raised an eyebrow as he watched her search franticly through the room, pushing stacks of books over and even searching under the small couch. When she found nothing, she stood up straight then turned to face Max, her face pale and pouring with sweat.

"Uhhh… It's gone," Marisa said fearfully.

Max tensed up. "Gone? The hell do you mean gone?" he asked.

"It's gone! Someone took it! Shit!" Marisa shrieked as she broke out into a panic.

Max groaned strenuously before setting his tired eyes on Marisa. "Well ain't that just fucking peachy. Now you gotta apologize to Remilia for stealing her rosary AND for losing it. Yeah, you're totally screwed," he said without any mercy in his voice.

"No! Wait! Wait! We can find it!" Marisa exclaimed. "I-I know of someone who could help us look for it. She's good at finding things."

"She better," Max said crossly.

Marisa smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. "She can! I'm sure of it, da ze!"

Max let out a sigh, not confident in Marisa at all and even less happy about having to find the rosary. "Whatever. Let's just go and get the bitch."

* * *

After another journey through the wintery skies, Max and Marisa arrived at their new destination not far from the Human Village. Side by side they walked down a stone path that had just recently been brushed of snow. At the end of the stone path sat a building that appeared to be a temple of some kind.

As the two approached the front entrance of the temple, Max gazed at the odd looking building, strangely impressed with its architecture design. "You Asians and your crazy buildings. Pretty cool I have to say," he commented.

"It's a Buddhist Temple of sorts, da ze," Marisa happily informed. She then narrowed her eyes at Max. "But let me tell you now… The ones who run the joint aren't human so just let me do the talking, okay?"

"Whatever," Max said boredly.

Right outside the temple's front doors was a girl with teal colored hair and brown, dog-like ears brushing away the powdery snow from the stone path with a broom. She looked awfully bored at first, but once she noticed the two visitors walking down the path she immediately perked up and started to wave with flowing energy.

The first thing Max noticed on the girl was her dog-like ears and he just stared at them, completely dumbfounded. "Oh my lord, look at them ears," he said.

Marisa smiled cheerfully and greeted the yamabiko with a two finger salute. "Howdy, ze! They still keeping ya busy, Kyouko?"

Kyouko returned the greeting with a two finger salute of her own. "Why, hello there, Marisa! It's a surprise to have you visit along with…" Her attention went to Max and she started to study him and, as expected, she could not put a name to his face. "Wow, we never got a foreigner like you before, Mister," she said, intrigued by Max's appearance. "Are you a friend of Marisa?"

"The name's Max and yes, we're currently fuck bud-" Max said before Marisa's hand slapped over his mouth, preventing him from continuing on with his sentence. He groaned from the painful slap.

Marisa kept a cheerful expression, but a lone drop of sweat rolled down her cheek. "Yup, he's a friend of mine. We're here to ask if we could borrow Nazrin for a little bit," she said.

"Ah! I see! So you have lost something." Kyouko said. The energetic girl hopped up the stone steps then pulled the large doors open, struggling a little in the process. Once she got them open, she gestured for Max and Marisa to enter. "Come. I shall inform Lady Byakuren of your arrival," she said then raced on ahead inside.

Marisa grinned then grabbed Max by the arm. "Let's go, buddy. And try not to say anything too vulgar, will ya?" she pleaded slightly.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "Hey. I'm just a guy who speaks his mind," he insisted before being pulled into the temple.

When Max and Marisa entered the temple, they were immediately greeted by none other than Byakuren Hijiri. The cheerful looking woman walked up to Marisa and grabbed her hand and smiled softly at her.

"Dear Marisa. I must say that I am very surprised you decided to visit during this time of the year. You even brought your significant other with you and what a handsome man he is. I am quite impressed with you, Marisa. Very very impressed. Please, you must introduce me at once," Byakuren said with a brilliant smile.

Marisa laughed nervously as she blushed. "Nah, nothing like that. He's just a friend. A friend that you might have heard about too, da ze," she said then winked.

Byakuren grew even more curious of the unknown man in her presence. "Have I now?" she asked before facing Max. "My name is Byakuren Hijiri and it is a joy to meet you, young man."

Max's eyes did a quick vertical sweep down and up Byakuren's body. He then took her by the hand and with one strong handshake, he said, "Greetings. My name is Hakan Max Polat and I am here to have sex with your family."

Right at the immediate end of Max's sentence, Marisa went into a coughing fit, kicking herself mentally for letting her guard down. She was now afraid about how the great magician would handle the so-called greeting.

Byakuren's calm and collected demeanor had not wavered in the slightest, seemingly unfazed whatsoever by the coarse greeting. In fact, she actually looked flattered. "Oh my. I was unaware that entertainment was coming. I thank you for your hard work," she said then happily bowed.

Marisa's mouth dropped, stunned by Byakuren's apparent mistake. "N-N-No, Byakuren. What he meant to say was… umm…"

Byakuren giggled at Marisa's unneeded attempt to formulate an excuse. "I kid, dear Marisa. I have my own silly one here so I am no stranger to such remarks and I can tell he meant no harm by it," she said.

Suddenly next to her, a small explosion of smoke went off with a poof. It vanished as quickly as it appeared and in its place stood a grinning girl with short black hair and a very odd set of wings. With her odd wings fluttering behind her, she looked over towards Max and studied him, her eyes pleased with what they saw.

"Speak of the devil," Byakuren said.

"Eh? Nue?" Marisa said, surprised with the girl's sudden appearance.

"So does that include the immediate family or do close friends count too?" Nue asked of Max, her eyes filled with mischievous intent.

Marisa whipped her eyes to Max, now looking baffled. "Wait a damn minute. That was your entire name?" she asked.

"Eeyup. When I moved to the States, I was given the name Max as a nickname so I wouldn't get my ass kicked in school," Max said.

"I'ma call you by your real name from now on, da ze!" Marisa said excitedly.

"You do and you're dead," Max threatened.

Upon hearing Max's name, Byakuren blinked a few times. She knew the name, but as far as she was aware, it belonged to a deceased man. "Max? Your name is Max, young man?" she asked, her curiosity at its peak.

"That'll be me," Max yawned.

Surprise and excitement swelled in Byakuren's expression as she clasped her hands. "You mean you're the young man who banished the Outer Gods that appeared in Gensokyo?!"

Marisa smiled and happily replied. "Yup! This is him, da ze!"

Taking Max by surprise, Byakuren wrapped her arms around him and softly embraced him. "Wow! I never thought I would have the honor of meeting you, dear Max," she said. She released Max, took a step back then bowed. "Please let me say on behalf of the Myouren Temple… We thank you for the sacrifice you made."

Perplexed, a little redness appeared in Max's face. He then averted his gaze away from Byakuren's and said, "Erm… Yeah… No problem, I guess…"

Grinning from seeing the Max's little blush, Marisa patted him on the back a few times. "Hee hee. See, buddy? A lot of people heard of what you did and are thankful for it so you should look a little happier instead of looking all bummed out all the time," she said.

"Hmph. Yeah. Sure. I'll get right on that," Max said sourly.

"She's right, dear Max," Byakuren said then softly held both of his hands. "I can feel frustration and hopelessness in your soul. But you can't let those feelings keep you from obtaining happiness. You must fight those negative feelings."

Her words having hit a sore spot, Max ripped his hands away. "Great. Someone else who thinks they know anything," he said bitterly.

Byakuren continued to smile, though sadness tainted the smile. Her eyes went to Max's chest and she pressed her hand on the center of it, feeling the medallion behind his shirt. "I know more than you think, Max. I know that nihilism has your soul chained. But please, do not let it consume you. I promise that if you keep hope in your heart, then your soul will one day know freedom," she said.

Max's eye twitched as anger started to grow. Already finished with listening to Byakuren, he huffed and bitterly said, "What the fuck ever," and stormed off in silence.

Marisa sighed then shook her head at Max in disappointment. "He just won't lighten up. You think our victory before would have encouraged him, but nope," she said.

"He is stricken with anxiety. Just give him time, but do help him out a little, dear Marisa," Byakuren said.

"No problems there!" Marisa said with a thumbs up.

"Yeah, Marisa. Use your mouth! Your mouth!" Nue said then started snickering, earning a bonk on the head from the flustered Marisa. "Ow! Jeez, don't be so violent," she said while giving Marisa a dirty look.

Byakuren walked up to Marisa and gently placed her hand on her bandaged arm. "But do not forget to take care of yourself as well. I hate seeing you so roughed up," she said.

"Ah, don't worry about me, Byakuren. I got it all in the bag, da ze!" Marisa stated confidently.

Byakuren smiled, her heart warmed by Marisa's confidence, but worry still lingered. "Your injured arm and the now-alive Max tells me that you have been busy with the otherworldly and eldritch. I assume the Scarlet vampire has been involved with them as well. You all better watch yourselves and each other. Those things will use every single negative emotion present in your hearts against you. Do not let them," she said sternly.

"Heh heh. Yeah, it's been rough, but you don't have to worry about us. As long as we have superior firepower, we'll be the winners in the end," Marisa said.

Byakuren nodded, happy with Marisa's conviction. "Keep doing what you can and nothing less, as we here at the temple shall," she said.

Kyouko returned, and pulling behind her was the Little Dowser General, Nazrin. Barely able to keep up with the overly excited yamabiko, Nazrin stumbled a few times, each time nearly falling to the floor face first. She knew even if she did fall, Kyouko would be sure to continue dragging her along.

Looking very happy and proud of herself, Kyouko presented Nazrin to Marisa. "Here she is, Marisa!" she announced.

Nazrin pulled her arm out of Kyouko's grip, quickly caught her breath then fixed her clothes. "Yeesh. One minute I'm doing some cleaning for master and the next thing I know this child is yanking me down the stairs and to here. Was a little curious why she was so excited and now I'm a little appalled to see it was just the witch," she said plainly.

Marisa held her smile, deciding to let Nazrin's little insult pass unchallenged. "Nice to see you too, Nazrin," she said.

"I shouldn't bother asking, but for formality's sake I will… What brings you here?" Nazrin asked.

"Hold the fucking phone," Max suddenly broke in. He rushed up to Nazrin, whose eyes went wide from seeing him. Max looked utterly shocked himself as he studied her ears and tail. After a few moments of studying her form, a big and excited smile appeared on his face and he loudly said, "Minnie! Holy shit, girl, I never thought I'd see you here in Gensokyo!"

Nazrin took a step back, perplexed and feeling a little threatened and scared. "Uh-Wha-What? Who is-"

"What brings you here? Did Mickey kick you out or something?" Max asked. He placed his fists on his waist, tilted his head and looked down at Nazrin with a sprightly smirk. "Have you been fucking Goofy again?"

Nazrin's face burned up red as she started to fume. "Who do you think you are calling someone you just met goofy?!" she shouted, and Max answered her with a burst of laughter.

"This girl is amazing!" Max exclaimed then turned to Marisa. "Marisa, check this bitch out!"

"Yes yes. I see her, Max," Marisa said as she waved him away.

Byakuren chuckled a little bit then walked up behind Nazrin. She placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders and said, "Oh my. It looks like this handsome man has taken an interest in you, Nazrin," she said.

"Lucky son of a…" Nue mumbled jealously to herself as she kicked at the floor.

Unlike Byakuren, Nazrin looked very disgusted, if not outright horrified. "Oh god…" she said in dismay.

"Marisa! I could do this mouse girl and we could make like a gazillion little bastards and bitches and swarm the next alien prick that decides to pop up," Max said enthusiastically.

"WHAT?!" Nazrin shrieked.

"Oh, Nazrin, you lucky girl. You found a fantastic mate. I can't wait to have some grandchildren running around," Byakuren teased.

"Please don't joke around, Lady Byakuren," Nazrin said as she trembled at the thought.

Byakuren chuckled at the trembling mouse youkai. "Don't worry about Max here. That's just his way of saying he likes you," she said.

"Huh? Max?" Nazrin asked, the name poking her interest.

"Yup! Me and Max came here because we need your help in finding something very important so could ya help us out?" Marisa said.

"Hmm… Well…" Nazrin said, unsure.

"Of course she will. Isn't that right, Nazrin?" Byakuren said.

"Eh… I have this odd feeling that I don't have a choice," Nazrin said.

"Nope! Now let's go! We need to find a rosary and fast," Marisa said.

Nazrin looked up at Byakuren, who simply smiled and nodded at her. She sighed in defeat then said, "Alright. Guess I can go ahead and lend a hand."

"Thank you, dear Nazrin," Byakuren said as she patted Nazrin on the head.

"Please let me touch your tail," Max urged as he eyed Nazrin's tale.

"What? No!" Nazrin said as she wrapped her tail around her waist.

"Let's go you two. We'll have that rosary found before the day is even over with, ze," Marisa said with genuine confidence.

"Before you leave…" Byakuren said then walked up to Max. She placed her hands on the sides of his head and, to his befuddlement, tilted his head forward. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, leaned back and smiled at him as his face reddened some. "Take care of Marisa and those at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I feel a little better about their wellbeing knowing such a strong man is present there," she said softly.

Max's blush grew more profound, taken back by the strange vote of confidence. "Eh… Yeah. Sure, I'll… do what I can," he said then quickly headed out the door.

Marisa snickered. "I've never seen him like that. Ya gotta teach me how you do it, Byakuren," she said.

"It comes with time, dear Marisa," Byakuren said. "Now go. Find what you have lost."

"Will do," Marisa said then headed for the door along with Nazrin.

Byakuren, Nue and Kyouko walked outside to see the three off. They watched them as they made their way down the stone path, the cold wind slowly picking up around them.

Byakuren looked up into the gray sky and when she did, an unexplainable feeling of nauseating dread filled her stomach.

She continued to smile, but her eyes were not smiling. "It is hard to look up at the sky anymore when it feels like something is looking back," she said as the wind pushed her long brown hair into her face.

Nue and Kyouko tilted their heads in confusion. They then looked up towards the sky and narrowed their eyes.

"What ya talking about? I see nothing," Nue said.

Byakuren brushed her hair out of her face. "Good. That is good," she said. "Let us hope that it stays that way."


	24. Chapter 24 The Rosary Found

Marisa and Nazrin walked side by side as they casually made their way across an open field of glittering snow. Max, meanwhile, was walking close behind Nazrin and was entertaining himself by smacking playfully at her tail as it swayed from side to side much like a cat would.

Nazrin had her dowsing rods at hand and held them out in front of her. With the image of a rosary in mind, she was focused on following a tiny, but clear, trail she had picked up. The trail was stable, leaving only the _child_ behind her with the sole possibility of causing her to lose said trail.

Nazrin took a deep breath then exhaled with a drawn out sigh. "Marisa…" she said, wincing mildly from each smack the tip of her tail received.

A brooding Marisa did not answer the girl next to her. She was distracted by the thought of having to return the rosary once they found it and was wracking her brain on how to return it while avoiding a fight with Remilia. But no matter what she came up with, she was sure she was going to be chewed out severely.

Nazrin mumbled under her breath from being ignored then spoke again; louder this time. "Marisa!"

Nazrin's call managed to reach Marisa, pulling her out of her brooding state. "Hm? Wassup?" Marisa asked.

"I won't bother asking how this rosary of yours came to be missing, but…" Nazrin's gaze drifted over her shoulder and to the man behind her. The tip of her tail received another smack, and again she winced. "This boy… The one who supposedly banished two evil gods… Is he… How should I say this… Is he okay upstairs?" she asked as she tapped the right side of her temple.

Marisa looked behind her towards Max. She smiled as she watched him happily play with Nazrin's tail, seemingly lost in his own little world. She then turned her smiling face back to Nazrin and said, "Of course he is, da ze. He's just easily entertained. Watch this."

Marisa reached down and grabbed the back of Nazrin's skirt. Before the mouse youkai could object, her skirt was lifted up, exposing her white-as-snow panties to the man behind her. Nazrin shrieked as she pushed her skirt back down, face red and hot.

Happy with the brief flash, Max held up two thumbs up to Marisa. "Nice!" he said with enthusiasm in his voice.

Nazrin grinded her teeth as she grumbled curse words. "What are you trying to pull?! Do that again and you'll be looking for your lost item by yourselves," she threatened.

Marisa grinned smugly, unfazed by the threat. "Yeah, and Max here will have your face in the snow and your butt in the air, if you catch my drift," she said then wiggled her brow.

"I totally would too," Max chimed in then continued on with playing with Nazrin's tail.

A sweat drop popped out of Nazrin's forehead then rolled down her fear-filled face. She shook her head, pushing away the veiled threat and hiding her nervousness behind an uncaring expression. "Hmph. Whatever. It won't take me long to find this rosary of yours anyways," she said plainly. Suddenly, her ear twitched when she felt a curious sensation. "Speaking of rosary… We're getting close."

"Yes!" Marisa exclaimed with a fist pump. She turned her gaze to Max. "Told ya we'd find it quickly, ze."

"It's about damn time," Max said tiredly, having now lost interest in Nazrin's tail.

Marisa smacked her hands together and vigorously rubbed them together, smiling gleefully. "Alright! How far do you think it is?" she asked.

Nazrin pointed ahead. "That far," she said.

Nazrin pointed across the snowy field and to a small house made of red brick. The snow-covered home sat alone in the middle of the field with nothing to draw too much attention to it.

Upon seeing the house, Marisa's excited expression slowly transformed into one of pure terror. She started to look around her and as she did, she mentally screamed at herself for not realizing where they were sooner. She yelled at herself for being too occupied with figuring out how to deal with Remilia. Now they were only a few yards away from Death's door because of her mistake.

"Oh gods, no," Marisa croaked. She grabbed Nazrin roughly by the front of her shirt. "Please tell me you don't think the rosary is in that house. PLEASE tell me it is not there," she said with desperate pleading.

Nazrin pushed the unreasonably terrified witch away and fixed her shirt grudgingly. "It is. If you didn't want the rosary to be found then why did you have me look for it?" she asked.

"Oh no. Oh no no no no no," Marisa groaned despondently as she shook her head in disbelief. "Of all the places it had to be… WHY did it have to be in HER home? Shiiiiit…!"

Nazrin watched as Marisa drowned in despair. She took joy in it and tried her best not to make it too obvious, but a small smirk managed to sneak its way out. "So… You know who lives there?" she asked. Marisa nodded and Nazrin's smirk grew in response. "And that person is a dangerous person, I take it?" she asked and again Marisa nodded, pushing her smirk into a brightly shining grin. "Good luck getting your rosary back," she said, trying to sound compassionate, but failing hard.

Marisa shuddered at the thought of the person sleeping within the walls of the seemingly innocent home. If it was just her, she wouldn't be all too worried about walking up to the house and knocking on its doors. But she was not alone this time. This time she had a man with her, a man she was sure would provoke the woman inside the house the second he opened his mouth.

Marisa dreaded returning to the Scarlet Mansion with the rosary in hand and having to explain herself. She dreaded returning with a broken rosary even more. But what she dreaded the most was returning with a broken rosary _and_ a broken Max. She tried to think positive, but she knew hell would break lose if they woke the youkai who dwelled within the house. At least it would with Max around, so she decided it would be best for her to come back later by herself.

With her mind made up, Marisa turned around to face Max. "Hey Max, why don't you… go and…" She paused midsentence, realizing Max was no longer where he was just standing a few moments ago. She panicked and turned to Nazrin, who yawned to herself in boredom. "Nazrin! Where'd Max go?!"

Nazrin yawned a second time then itched her right ear. "Hm? Oh, that guy. He's over there," she said then pointed towards the brick house.

Marisa's heart stopped when she saw Max casually strolling towards his doom. He was already almost at the front door; the doors to his second death. Without a second thought, she took off running towards the unaware man.

"Max! Boy, are you flippn' crazy?!" she shouted.

Nazrin rolled her eyes at the overreacting witch. She decided to stick around a little longer and slowly followed Marisa, only because she expected something interesting to happen, like a certain male getting himself slaughtered do to his vulgar mouth.

Max reached the door of the house and got ready to knock, but was stopped when Marisa snatched his hand.

"Hold it right there, my very best friend in the world," Marisa said, cheerfully smiling to hide the distress she was in. "Wh-What you doing, huh?"

Max glared at her, unhappy with the sudden grab. He ripped his hand away and said, "The hell you think I'm doing? I'm getting the rosary so I can get back before my balls freeze off." He made a second attempt to knock on the door, but, again, was stopped when Marisa grabbed him by the wrist.

"Now just hold on a minute there, ze," Marisa said. Her smile vanished when she let out a droning sigh. "Look, Max… You need to let me handle this, okay? Trust me on this."

Max sighed, his patience with Marisa eroding away. "What in God's name is wrong this time?" he asked.

"You remember when I said about being careful about who you talked to? Well, this is one of those times where you need to be careful by not saying anything. The woman in this house is a ruthless bitch and really REALLY dangerous and would make you into fertilizer if you so much as look at her the wrong way," Marisa said.

Not feeling the least bit concerned or threatened, Max rolled his eyes at Marisa, crossed his arms and said, "Marisa. What did we just get done fighting back at the mansion?"

"No. Max. You don't understand. That woman in there, that THING in there, is a type of Horror the likes even you have never seen before. Please believe me when I tell you this," Marisa pleaded.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. Let's just get the damn thing," Max said then made a third attempt to knock on the door, but was stopped yet again when Marisa wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into a headlock. Max sighed irritably. "What do you think you're doing, you blond-haired troll?"

"I'm sorry Max, but you leave me no choice. You'll thank me for this later, ze," Marisa said apologetically as she put the squeeze to Max's neck, attempting to subdue him with a sleeper-hold. Unfortunately for her, her little trick was hardly working. All she was managing to do was make Max's face red a little from the pressure on his throat.

Max went through a few scenarios on how to punish Marisa in his head as she tried to squeeze harder. "Marisa… You have to the count of ten to let go of me before I blister your ass red," he said.

"You won't be able to break from Marisa's Supreme Hold!" Marisa stated.

Nazrin stood a few feet away from the two wrestling humans, shaking her head at their foolishness. "You two want me to knock or will I have to wait for one of you two to punch out the other?" she asked.

"Minnie, bite one of her nipples off for me," Max said.

"Stop calling me Minnie!" Nazrin shouted angrily.

"Give it up, Max. I ain't letting you meet this woman. For your own sake," Marisa said.

Max reached behind Marisa's legs and back, lifting the light girl up into his arms. "How about I just throw you through one of the windows?" he asked.

Marisa puffed her cheeks at Max, angry with his stubbornness. "Why won't you listen to me? You know I'm only trying to help keep you safe."

"I don't need some dumb blond keeping me safe or whatever so just lay off," Max said harshly then dropped the witch to the snow-covered ground.

"Oof!" Marisa hit the frozen ground hard. With an angry expression, she jumped back up to her feet and glared at Max. "I'm tired of your grumpy attitude! Why won't you tell me what's bothering you so I can understand you better?"

"You are so fucking nosey," Max stated waspishly.

"Tell me right now! I thought you were just upset about your trapped soul but that ain't it. What is it that has you so bent out of shape all the time?"

"Right now? You," Max scowled.

"You kids are being a bit loud," Nazrin warned.

"We've beaten back a bunch of those things yet you continue to be pessimistic! Why can't you lighten up a little?" Marisa said.

"I do try to lighten up but certain bitches like to cockblock me," Max spat.

"You're just trying to use sex as a way to escape from your problems!" Marisa accused.

"For the love of Pete…" Max grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do you find the need to pester me? Hm?"

"Because I'm your friend. It's my job to figure out what's eating you and to help you," Marisa said sternly.

"Well, I don't want you as a friend. How's that?" Max said bitterly, and was punched in the nose for it by an angry and frustrated Marisa. The force of the punch made him take a couple steps back as his hand went to his injured nose. He checked the palm of his hand for blood then glared intensely at Marisa. "You know what's surprising about this? You just punched me and I didn't punch you back."

"I would have blasted anyone else with a Master Spark," Marisa stated sternly.

"Yeah? Well, why didn't you do the same to me?"

"Because I didn't want to seriously hurt you. You're just a regular guy so you can't handle hits like that. None of us want to see you hurt," Marisa said calmly.

"I do not need or want your concern. I've been hurt plenty of times throughout my life so I'm used to it," Max said.

"Well, we're not!" Marisa yelled in frustration.

"Are you two kids done arguing? I don't think the owner of this house appreciates you two being loud right outside her door," Nazrin said patiently.

"What are you talking about?" Marisa asked rudely. Nazrin answered her by pointing towards the door. Her eyes went to the door and when they did, they widened in terror. "Yuuka!" she exclaimed in fright.

In the doorway of the brick house stood the Flower Youkai, Yuuka Kazami. She wore red pajamas and her face showed she had just woken up; tired and ornery. She glared at each uninvited guest with her red eyes one by one.

"Oy… Is there any particular reason why you three decided to hold a social gathering outside my house? And while I was trying to sleep, I might add," Yuuka said. Her voice was calm and pleasant, but it chilled the already cold air.

Marisa was trembling, seeing that Yuuka was in the worst mood possible, but she quickly got a hold of herself and greeted the angry-looking youkai. "H-Hi, Yuuka! Fancy meeting you here!" she greeted awkwardly.

"I live here," Yuuka said bluntly.

"Oh… Yeah, I knew that…" Marisa said then mentally punched herself in the head.

"Little Marisa… I'll give you the chance to explain why you are…" Yuuka's train of thought was derailed when she noticed Max staring at her with awe-struck eyes. Her own eyes widen at the sight of the rather handsome young individual. With her ornery mood suddenly gone, she smiled and said, "Oh my. Such a handsome gift you have brought me, Marisa. But what is the occasion?"

Marisa was a little taken back by the sudden change in Yuuka's demeanor, but wasn't about to complain. She threw her left arm around Max's shoulder, placed her right hand on the center of his chest and introduced him. "This here is Max, ze. You might of heard of him about-"

"Sweet Jesus, I wanna bang you," Max said to Yuuka, interrupting and stunning Marisa silent.

"Wow…" the shocked Nazrin said involuntarily.

Max's eyes were glued on Yuuka's chest where her partly-unbuttoned shirt exposed her cleavage. He stared deep in between the two large and perfectly rounded breasts. He nearly subconsciously reached out to grab them before Marisa's hand slapped over his mouth.

"Excuse me…?" Yuuka said slowly. She looked quite stunned herself from the unusual greeting, but she didn't get angry and instead she went into deep thought when Max's name suddenly became familiar to her. "Hmm… Max… Max… I have heard that name before, but where…?" she said. A light bulb went off inside her head when she remembered. She smiled brightly at the man and said, "So, you're the so-called Harbinger of Madness. What a pleasant surprise to see you alive." An ominous grin then appeared on her face. "And what a pleasant change of events."

Max pulled Marisa's hand off his mouth so he could speak. "Yeah, I'm that guy and I gotta say… You have an amazing body," he said, earning only an ambiguous smirk from Yuuka. His eyes were unable to get enough of her shape and appearance as they went up and down her body.

Marisa again slapped her palm over Max's mouth to keep him quiet. With a shine of sweat over her face, she looked to Yuuka. "Please don't mind him. He hit his head at some point and is now a little nuts up here," she said then knocked a few times on Max's head.

Yuuka ignored Marisa and studied Max carefully, trying to sense the vile power she once felt before, but to her grave disappointment, felt nothing out of the ordinary from him.

She frowned then said, "Such a shame… If you still had all that power I heard about then me and you could have had so much fun together," she said. She then sighed in further disappointment. "If only I had gotten to Youkai Mountain in time."

"The hell you talking about? We can still have plenty of fun!" Max said anxiously.

Marisa grabbed Max by the ear and pulled him close to her. "That's not what she means, dummy," she whispered.

"Look at this woman. She's absolutely gorgeous. I'd kill to get between her legs," Max whispered back.

"You'd be killed if you got between her legs," Marisa stated.

"What are you smoking? She seems to be a nice lady."

"She's a damn rose with thorns, you nutjob!"

"What nasty things are you saying about me, little Marisa?" Yuuka asked.

Max pushed Marisa away from him and returned his eyes to Yuuka. "She keeps saying you're a bitch and stuff," he, to Marisa's disapproval, said.

Yuuka frowned and looked at Marisa with a faked hurt expression. "What horrible lies are you telling this nice young man? For shame, Marisa. For shame."

"I don't care what she says. Just know that you have the most amazing boobs I have ever seen in my life. You're not even wearing a bra yet they stay up perfectly," Max said.

Yuuka looked down at herself. "You think so? They can be quite troublesome though," she said as she massaged one of her shoulders.

"I will massage every part of you if you want, just say the word," Max said eagerly.

Yuuka chuckled. "It looks like I have myself an admirer. How convenient."

Marisa grabbed Max and pulled him away from Yuuka, sensing the ill intent flowing off of her. "You ain't fooling anyone, Yuuka. I know you too damn well, ze," she said.

Yuuka smirked devilishly. "Jealousy is unbecoming of you, little Marisa."

"I'm not jealous!" Marisa shouted angrily. Nazrin tugged on her sleeve to grab her attention and to make her remember the reason for coming to Yuuka's home. "N-Never mind that. Yuuka. You took something from my house and I want it back," she said waspishly.

Yuuka blinked a couple of times, both insulted and confused from being called a thief, and by Marisa of all people. "What makes you think I would do such a thing?" she asked curiously.

"Miss Yuuka. I was the one who led these kids here. My specialty is finding lost items and the item in question is a rosary," Nazrin explained.

"Indeed, little mouse youkai? Hmm…" Yuuka said then fell into thought. With a few seconds of thinking, a memory returned to her. "I think I know what it is you are talking about. Please come in," she said then headed inside with Nazrin behind her and Marisa and Max soon after.

Max, Marisa and Nazrin all sat on the couch as Yuuka rummaged through her stuff. She hummed a song to herself as she searched, stopping once she found a small black box. She opened it and pulled out what looked to be a finely crafted rosary made out of some kind of blue crystal. The center of it had a dark red jewel that shined with a dark brilliance.

Marisa jumped up to her feet once the rosary came into view. "That's it!" she announced. "How'd you get a hold of it?"

"Oh, I found three troublesome fairies running around with things that they had most certainly stolen. I'm always finding fairies doing such things and I collect the items they steal then take them to that Shopkeeper outside the Forest of Magic for him to do whatever he wishes with them," Yuuka said.

Three certain little fairies ran through Marisa's mind and her face went red with rage. "Those fuckers," she grumbled deeply. "Let me guess… You want something in order for you to give us the rosary, am I right?"

Yuuka smiled and nodded. "I don't want much. I merely would like to have a look at something," she said as her gaze went to Max.

"What is it?" Marisa asked.

Max let out a disgruntled sigh then stood up. "I get it…"

"I only wish to take a peek, if you would be so kind," Yuuka said politely.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Max said as he started to unbuckle his belt.

Yuuka watched Max fiddle with his belt in confusion, not understanding what he was doing. She looked to Marisa and Nazrin and going by their expressions, they too were just as lost as she was. It was only when it was too late did they realize what he was doing.

The second Max got his belt undone, he pushed down his pants and boxers enough to flash the girls his manhood. The eyes of all three girls popped out of their skulls then snapped back from the sudden sight. Blood shot out of Nazrin's nose so hard that she was knocked backwards, sending her tumbling over the left shoulder of the couch. Blood spurted from Marisa's nose as well, her face beat red. Yuuka's jaw hung loosely, feeling both stupefied and amazed by Max's boldness.

Blushing a little, Max said," There. Ya happy now?"

"Max, what in blue blazes are you doing?!" Marisa shrieked, her eyes remaining on Max's exposed member, unable to look away.

"Taking a bullet to get the damn rosary back," Max said flatly.

Yuuka's palm met her face with a smack and she groaned disgruntledly from the overstimulation she just received. "You… are an odd, yet interesting, boy," she said calmly.

"Man," Max corrected her. "May I have the rosary now?"

"No, you fool. I want to see the Yellow Sign Medallion I heard about not your… erm… equipment… You still have it, do you not?" Yuuka said.

Max stood dumbfounded for a moment before speaking. "R-Really?"

"Yes, really," Yuuka replied. "Now put that away. It's too early to be shown that."

"Oh! Well, why didn't you say so? That's not a problem," Max said as pulled his dick back into his pants. After fixing his pants, he reached around his neck and took off the chain that held the Yellow Sign Medallion, tossing it lazily to Yuuka for her to examine.

Marisa had both of her hands over her face, shaking her aching head. "Ahg… Sometimes I wonder if you really are insane…" she muttered.

Max grinned. "Heh. Got an eye full, didn't ya? Now just imagine it inside ya," he said facetiously, receiving a hard smack on the shoulder by a flustered Marisa a second afterward.

Yuuka looked over the fascinating object, feeling it with her fingers and tracing the eerie symbol on it. She was hoping to feel the vile energy she felt wash over Gensokyo during the Horror Incident, but to her disappointment, she felt nothing. Very few things have been able to make her heart tremble and that vile power was one of them. She longed to feel that trembling once again. She walked up to Max and returned his medallion and Remilia's rosary.

With the rosary now in his hand, Max turned to Marisa, a smug expression present on his face. "And you were so damn worried about not getting it from her," he jibed, and Marisa gave him a middle finger in response.

Nazrin stood back up on wobbly feet, her hand to her face as she pinched her bleeding nose. "There. You got your rosary back. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and have Unzan punch me really hard in the head," she said then took her leave.

"Yeah, I guess we'll get going to," Marisa said.

"Not without me you're not," Yuuka said.

Marisa looked at her in surprise. "Eh?"

Yuuka wrapped her arm around Max's arm and pulled him close to her. "I've taken an interest in this man of yours, Marisa. I have a feeling that if I stick around him then I'll get the pleasure of killing more of those alien creatures," she said then smiled cheerfully at Max. "I'm sure you won't mind if I tagged along. Right?"

Max grinned ear to ear, his eyes right back on Yuuka's exposed cleavage. "You can stick close to me all you want," he said. "Just don't complain to me if you get eaten by one."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about little o' me," Yuuka said then playfully tapped the tip of Max's nose, bringing some pink to his cheeks.

Marisa sighed depressingly, deciding not to even bother trying to convince the thrill-seeking youkai out of her decision. "Sure, why not? The more the merrier…" she said unhappily.


End file.
